Consequently, available raw land is being rapidly depleted, and soon the only option for expansion will be redevelopment.

DO NOT and I mean DO NOT contact those creditors or make partial payments to them.What that will do is REFRESH and old negative account and make the credit score take a nose dive.It is true it takes usually 1 to 2 months to update changed results in the scoring model.If the buyer has a time sensitive loan issue the lender can do what is called a "rapid re-score" with the credit which will update the credit report score much faster but costs money.In addition to paying down the cards your buyer can also request a credit line increase on all the cards.If 3 out of 5 or 2 out of 5 increase the limit that will help bring down available credit percentages to used credit even more.Even though the buyer is at 680 they want to try to get the score up higher.You do not want to be right at where the score requirement is and then something happens and you are off by a few points.Do not close credit lines.One of the scoring criteria is length of active credit history in good standing.If the buyer has 5 cards and 3 are 2 years old and 1 is 1 years old and the last one is 4 years old then you have a 4 years history.If you close out the oldest one your credit history in good standing has dropped to 2 years now which affects the scoring model.The buyer should stay away from big purchases cars,furniture,appliances,vacations,weddings,etc. until AFTER they have closed on a house and moved in.Those types of purchases are much more lenient on debt ratios than house loans these days.

Rapidly improving neighborhood.

I hear a ton about fix and flip partnership where the passive investor expects a rapid return on his/her money, but what about those of us who are looking to help those people who have large sums of money sitting in the bank earning negligible interest?

If you are lucky, they'll pay their balance sometime in mid February when they get their income tax rapid refund money. 

My husband Duncan and I are looking to get started in REI in the Grand Rapids, MI area because he grew up there and because the market is much more affordable than Chicago.

I would look for areas where homes are appreciating rapidly - like Nashville, TN, Charlotte, NC - or any other place, buy multi-family or single family homes there, invest some dollars in stocks like Amazon, Facebook, or Netflix, wait a few years after appreciation and sell the home (s) for a profit. 

agree it's new feudal era in America with the world becoming multi-polar powerhouse.The text book has been changing rapidly.

JU is a small private university that is growing rapidly due to a new President; therefore we see a lot of opportunities in that area.

So, here is the information for the properties: Property #1: This is a *handyman special* multi-family property available for purchase in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which can be a VERY lucrative income property.