True in all professional services, law, accounting, RE, medical, stock brokers, engineers, etc.

Congrats on locking up your first deal.Reverse engineer the process real quick.

Currently I am working full-time as an offshore structural engineer in the oil & gas industry but I would like to establish a side business in real estate.

My background is in Civil Engineering.

I'm an engineer, and feel I'm pretty logical and conservative.

Software engineer by day, beginning real estate investor by night, also looking for sub2 deals.

Kind of like how the following words went by the wayside:Janitors are now "custodians"Personnel is now "human resources"Bums are now "homeless"Waitresses are now "servers"Garbage men are now "sanitation engineers"I will continue to use all of the old words.

The seller wants to sub divide the property and sell it but doesn't want the hassle to go before a board, engineering and etc.Comps for homes in this area with approximately an acre+ is $300K+.

So I'm spending my free time here and am itching to start buying some real estate.About me:I graduated with an Engineering degree which will provide me with a steady paycheck and an equally steady student loan payment haha.

Such contracts are unique to the property addressing such things as engineer reports, building/business compliance, zoning issues and a list of pitfalls.A letter of intent is common in commercial prior to making a firm offer to put the deal in negotiations, you might ask for the first right of refusal during the process but tie it up at a price before spending money on due diligence.I'd say you need local assistance, if you can get a broker to assist at this point for a reasonable flat fee or 1% it would probably be well worth it, they don't have to find your property or search for you, just do the contract and take you to closing.