Hi DP members: We have a 17,000 sf piece of land on the feeder of a major highway in Houston.

Biggest piece of advice I can give(credit to Rob on the podcast) is buy nice, not thrice. 

The other piece of math you need to know here is how much "holding" costs you will incur. 

Piece together a complete picture of this family. 

Lol, every piece of real estate I have touched for last 10 years running, and every stock in my portfolio from the last year. 

I'd put in an orchard with different types of fruit trees, possibly a pool, and one of those large chess boards like what is at Santa Monica Beach, where the board is on the ground, and the chess pieces range anywhere from knee high for a pawn, to chest high for the major pieces.I welcome any advice as I've just started my due diligence period.  

He will be 18 soon and would like to start getting pieces into motion and explore our options. 

I have enough faith in the compound interest that mutual funds offer to commit to a 401k as a piece of my retirement plan.

One huge piece of advise from our experiences - is talk to a local credit union and find a place that can do 5% down conventional (may be a 5 or 7 yr ARM) instead of 3.5% FHA.

I believe the key to it is having a professional mail piece and when you speak to the owner, don't tell them you want to purchase their property at a 10 cap.