They tend to be those areas where the owners are not sophisticated enough to appeal the taxes. 

You should be able to take advantage of the more sophisticated contractors economies of scale and understand of the process.

IF they are sophisticated enough to understand their numbers and are actually able to provide them to you, they are not nearly as likely to sell to me for the discounted price I require. 

Someone spending $3 million or so on a building is likely going to be pretty sophisticated in investing and know other people to put together a project or already have connections with builders , city connections ,etc.

I'm a full-time payroll clerk.

Nonfarm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 199,000, slightly better than the 190,000 average estimate and 150,000 in October.Unemployment rate declined to 3.7%, compared with the forecast for 3.9%.Average hourly earnings, a key inflation indicator, increased by 0.4% for the month and 4% from a year ago, close to expectations.Health care was the biggest growth industry, adding 77,000.

With a solid team, a sophisticated investor should be able to do this within 30 days easy. 

But in the bright shiny objects space of the market that flavor of inventory is tight and projected to be gradually less tight.Mortgage lenders have become pretty sophisticated to prevent sweeping foreclosure apocalypses like what has happened in the past, particularly in how careful they have been in lending practices and how they offer alternative solutions to foreclosure for those facing "temporary" inabilities to pay. 

Here's just an outline:Legal (entities, transactional, consultation)Accounting (tax prep, possibly payroll)City business licensesTaxes (SE tax, Cap Gains tax)Closing costs/title insuranceHomeowners insuranceBookkeepingProperty taxesAgent/Broker feesProperty management feesHard money feesThe opportunity cost of money and time.That's just a short list.

With today's payroll data, rate hike might get postponed.