Cosmo - I personally don't know Phoenix well, but if I had to do this in another city I would look at income levels, crime levels, and population growth (if you can) by zip code and/or area within a DMA as a starting point.

Quote from @Michael Challenger: I have no qualms with hard money lending, but I need to learn more about the process and structure to these for typical deals so that I am more comfortable and in a position to reduce my personal risk and risk to investors as much as possible.

When I started there was no Facebook, but now I have a personal page, business page on Facebook, website, linked In, and they all say that I help people with their real estate issues.

Of course when doing the 1031 exchange your basis will carry forward into your replacement property.Where you have a potential issue is establishing your intent to hold those properties but immediately selling one or more them as soon as you have them ready. 

I have from time to time spoken with the city administrator, economic developer, & a person at building planning commission.

Was that person me or another person as that sounds like something I have been telling people? 

All I can say is that when an investor is the person who's doing the job that a real estate broker is commissioned to do, per state law, that's brokering without a license, which is no bueno and shouldn't be allowed. 

Can confirm Joseph is a real person 

They were a law firm who hunts class action suits to go against companies. 

I can provide support of checking in on contractors, staging rental properties, walk potential leads to give you an idea of the property in person or what the area is like, meeting with agents, and drafting scope of work for projects.