BTW, please take with a  large grain of salt the proformas which ignore many real expenses.

I am from NYC (downtown Manhattan)I am completely new to the investing arena.I am not planning on investing in my local area but am looking for an area to invest in.My challenges are the following:1- I am looking for a niche with a high return (my goal is to cover my expenses, fund my current business (I'm in the food business) and have passive income for later in life.

It is 5 minutes into the game, I am enjoying the first few sips of my first beer and some food when my phone rings.  

SO....now I'm working on that note....with the recent slowdown in the energy industry, I'm hoping it'll take me about a year or 18 months to pay off my home, and at that time, I'll allow myself to go into the office (either project management or people management), and work on getting my funding together again for another go at REI - should not take too long with no other expenses besides taxes, food, gas, and misc. 

I'm not an investment guru, not even close to a seasoned investor, so take my word as a grain of salt.

If you buy diesel fuel or eat food, part of that money you spend is coming to me.  

I'm going to go against the grain on this one.First, in the scheme of things, this isn't a lot of money.

Does anyone know of any or want to connect over some food?

This home is a few hours away; so what about things like driving miles, anything we purchase for the house, food while working on the house, gas, lodging, utilities...

Seriously though there's a movement about to not mow your lawn in May to provide food for pollinators.