Same with house flippers who may need an extra hand doing some demo or landscaping or whatever it may be.

He suggests I buy lot outright and use this as collateral for demo and construction loan. 

I've been using $0.50/sq ft for basic room demo estimating (not kitchen or bath).

Typically the least you have to do is cap the fireplace chimney to make it weather proof/animal proof, then it's the structure/cosmetics of the room it's in, how much do you need to demo in order to drywall over it to make it disappear.

I have approached the demo with removing all the interior doors first and then a room at a time.

My potential solutions to the 3 issues are 1) The internet (Trulia, Zillow, Rent-o-meter, etc.)   2) Touring the competition (similar properties) Asking them about their rents and occupancy3) Talking to the current property manager and other local property managers 4) Reaching out to local real estate brokers about the rental listings and the property in general 5) Trying to connect with local investors/landlords thru BP and REIA meets 6) Asking the current owner of the property for the last 3 years of financials before its under contract (probably wont be willing but its worth a shot)  7) Reaching out to the big commercial brokers like CBRE who have closed transactions in the surrounding areas8) Somehow get REIS, which is an real estate data and analytic firm to "demo" their platform to obtain more info on the market As for now these are my potential solutions that I am working on but I would like the community to help me find other solutions or provide some advise. 

@Cornelius Garland  yup probably the number one biggest  deceiver in all of REal estate the wholesaling guru  ... touting how to get rich at this when in fact as YOU know this is a very advanced strategy takes a bunch of money to really make any money and very very few will do more than a deal or two a year.. to me a complete waste of time an energy for 99% of the people who are not committed like you and your partner.PS have you driven by 881 Ashley that I bought from you... turned out it was full of termites so we had to demo it and build a new build... going to market a t650k.. looks like we will make 200k on that deal. so thankyou for thinking of me on that one.

I initially just wanted to rent the property out and go find a duplex but I really now want to explore my options for demo and new construction development.

I just got my demo permit..

They'd actually do me a favor if they demo the kitchens and baths.