The deal fell through because I couldn't line up the financing during COVID......God/Universe has a way of looking out for us...As investors, a crucial skill we develop is to take our emotions out of the situation/deal, but that is hard when we have invested a lot of time and money into a deal. 

The macroeconomics are on fire here - population growth, job growth, and companies moving and developing here.

Is it best to approach an architect or a land developer for what I am proposing?

Many of the surrounding communitie are up and coming with a lot of developments happening. 

Generally larger commercial properties and shopping centers are easier to classify with hard and fast rules, but to the points above the residential areas really move very quickly and have way more nuance than most people care to admit.zip codes are generally way too large for my liking at least in my market to provide any kind of insights other than macro level economics but even then highways or rivers that cut through a zip code can end up with totally different trade areas.we can get pretty granular with cellphone data and with grocery center data to understand the trade areas and their true boundaries, but that kind of data pull is generally only cost effective for investors doing larger scale projects or developments, and honestly we still just end up getting on the ground and feeling it out, so I generally tell people that the money is better spent on a plane ticket and weekend trip in the area you are looking rather than any kind of "trade area" level data studies.and generally B class in 1 area means something different than another. 

I have ~20 doors in OH that I self manage (there are some awesome softwares out there now for self management) and am looking to start investing in Buffalo too.

To rent the home, I would lose about $2,500 per month (based on comparable rents in my area, property management fees, etc).Both options loose the same amount by roughly 2 years, and by this time, I still will not have built up much more equity in the home to make selling it a break even unless there is price appreciation by then.My dilemma is this: I speculate that my home will not appreciate much in the next 3-5 years due to the rapid pace of development in the surrounding area.In 5-10+ years, maybe, but by then I'll have bled $150,000 - $300,000.I have thought about this a lot and feel that I mar'-too close to the problem to see the best solution.

@Rosmery ThenMy partner and I are in the same situation, just he has 20 years of construction and development experience.

As others have said, the best thing your son can do is run far from this deal, buckle down, save his pennies (he probably already is doing this), house-hack, and improve a property with sweat, hard work, developing a DIY skillset, and self-managing tenants. 

A lot of my out of state real estate clients really like this market because the macroeconomics look so good for this market - population is growing, job growth is growing, and so many companies moving and developing here.