:P So I was just... doing... a thing... that I'm making up... as I go along... let's just duct tape this here, screw that into that other thing, use a little glue on the whatsit thingie, draw a smiley face on it for luck... and then I'm going to push this button, and then... boom, loan funded, deal closed, happy day. 

Boom, 203k it.You've got an edge on the hard money flippers in these scenarios: your financing is substantively cheaper than their hard money.

Hardly the "business is booming" sentiment that you read about on Crowdfund Insider (which is nothing more than a PR service for the top platforms). 

In a boom and upswing like one that we've just been experiencing, to homebuyers seem to come out of everywhere, itching to snap up whatever becomes available.

It's booming here.  

My parents own two mixed use buildings in a rough part of Brooklyn and I have watched them really enjoy the fruits of the boom in property prices in the area.

Frisco is the second fastest growing city in the US right now and it is booming and the prices have really gone up.  

RE Profits: Real estate provide you 4 way benefits...Appreciation + Depreciation + Cash Flow + Amortization. if you sell, you are taking appreciation advantage and other there will stop... better to have all four...If you don't like to invest more in this hot market, you can let properties pay off and use cash flow from this properties to buy more in next boom.

(back on topic)so im on google maps "driving around" and i can see the abandoned houses and ones that look vacant, i zoom in to get the address of these properties and again search the owners and boom, its usually someone in a different state or part of town, and boom.

Some areas you can concentrate your efforts in are 1) Ruskin - New amazon warehouse employing several hundreds of people here2) Lithia / Fishhawk area - Great schools but beware of high CDD + HOA + Property taxes that'll eat into your COC return3) Winter Garden - Booming market in orange county, has a new hospital and several new business coming up.