It's so easy and you get access to great resources and learn detrimental skills to build your real estate empire.

As Tom said, when you live on the edge, if one of your properties goes vacant, the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.Now there are some people who have built RE empires faster than the rest of us by being extremely gutsy and extremely lucky.

I got into it for the freedom of knowing that every hour of every day is being spent building my own little empire and all of the benefit is going to my family.

Just a bit of dept. now 26 with life by the balls im on a role building my empire one stone at a time.

I am building an empire (in my mind).

first talk to a good real estate broker that specialize's in land in that area.. that will give you a baseline value. and remember in CA there are millions of parcels like this throughout the state legally created lots .. that are either no buildable and or not economically buildable.commercial enterprise on 3 acres is not feasible in any fashion.

@Mindy JensenEver since the Louvre, and the subsequent popularization by François Mansart, a well executed Mansard roof is very pleasing to the eye ... though perhaps not to the pocketbook [They are a lot more work to shingle, shake, or leave].Given the inventory of Second Empire buildings in our region - not to mention Italianate and Gothic Revival adaptations - the mansard roof is alive and well.The same cannot be said of many later adaptations / incorporations of Mansard roofs (mid-20th century, 1960s/70s postmodern) ... many - or most - of which should have been forgotten (McDonalds comes to mind).

Once I got my MBA we started to build our "rental empire" and have 5 houses in 3 years.

I don't necessarily have empirical data to show the number of investors that want to invest passively, but I have been talking to and working with investors going on 11 years now and my perception is that passive investors far outnumber active investors.When you see all of the demand for Turnkey product, it is easy to realize that if you are willing to work hard and develop a quality, service company, you can enter that market and get a piece of that demand.  

@Rachel Gill We have a thing for older properties as well ... which is a good thing as our area is filled with Queen Anne, Second Empire, Victorian, Georgian, & Edwardian era buildings.It is possible to renovate these old buildings, making them moderately energy efficient (as good as a modern minimum code built home) and still maintain some of the period decor.