I get that the desert areas are very low value compared to OC, LA, and even parts of the Inland Empire. 

He wants to eventually have a real estate empire.

I am currently owning two rental properties, and I am planning soon to expand my little empire by buying a few additional properties.

Option 1: 3BR/2.5BA townhome in Santa Monica, about 1400 sq ft, just S of Montana and about 2 miles inland from the beach.

There is the 10% fee but it will have been worth it later on when I have built an empire.

Cal local micro areas and found that just in the Inland Empire alone it has a vast variety of real estate for investing.

OPM=the key to building a real estate empire.

We now realize that a better strategy, in terms of long-term wealth and freedom, would have been to sacrifice for a couple years, buy a 4-plex downtown or jump from SFR to SFR, and start a little empire of rentals.

There are tons of variables to consider in land development.The long time developers I know own existing assets and then value add plays and they make ground up development a smaller part of their overall portfolio so if I project stalls or goes bad it does not take them down.

Are you involved in Land Contracts, lease options or rent to own?