However, ensure that you've thoroughly vetted the alternative investment for viability and sustainability.

I have this in cash and have no clue how to allocate it into the analysis...This would be my first investment property.I’m in the construction business and will use my own crews for all rehab except for electrical.As for the area, it has two large projects that are ongoing and have an expected project lifespan of 10 years for construction with expectation that both will be sustainable for the foreseeable future.

It's not sustainable.

@Clayton Mobley  and these guys  ( Clatfelter) came to my Oregon office in 2011 and wanted me to fund there KC and Indy projects.I told them their model was not sustainable they sold hundreds of these low end homes. it got so bad they went back to the buyers and started borrowing money from them.. since they had a relationship.turns out one 60k KC property had 8 mortgages on it totaling almost a million bucks..

However, if we had a hurricane event, we would lose rents for a sustained period of time if all the homes were destroyed.

Compounding that risk with hard money lending can very quickly lead to losses, and it sounds like you have enough going on that you cannot sustain a loss. 

And just because asking prices are being reduced, does not mean sold prices are not still increasing, though perhaps at a slower pace.Slow, sustained growth is not necessarily a bad thing (in fact, it's sort of the goal!). 

Getting your RE license is very easy, but building a sustainable RE business is not.

The real question is what type of rent can this property in this neighborhood sustain?

The more I work in the industry the more I enjoy the bigger scope development projects, especially ones that have a higher purpose in sustainability.