@Mathew Wray Combining two separate lots for development purposes does create plottage value, however, it may not be enough to overcome the fact that the tear down is going on the market and will likely be sold for a high dollar amount, and you have a nice house worth half a million dollars that would need to be torn down. 

Nice to have you aboard Robb.

I also make a pretty nice living with my W-2 job, but dont feel fulfilled working for shareholders and ungrateful clients. 

But the nice thing about that is, if you are a straight shooter and treat your sellers right,  others will come to you when they are ready to sell.

Also if I meet with a seller who calls me from my marketing and they have a perfectly nice home in a great neighborhood  the first thing I tell them is that they can get top dollar from the sale of their home with a realtor, and they most likely don't need to sell to me, because I will have to buy at a price where I can make money on the deal. 

A lot of the time if you talk nicely they'll help you out!

You can buy a nice multi-unit property for a descent price.

At the moment my wife and I are looking to purchase our first home (a fixer upper) in a nice neighborhood but the home has foundation issues such as leaning walls, cracked bricks, etc.

Perhaps a nice 1950's built bungalow.Always hire a 3rd party property inspector to give you an unbiased feel for the home.

If it keeps happening they get a nice rent increase on the next lease renewal.I have installed Boiler Reset Controls on my properties to help a little with this issue.