Long store short, I have a duplex on a 45 acre farm in rural Virginia. Half is long term, half is short term. 20 acres are leased as farm land and another 20 is wooded. I’ve pondered the idea of clearing land, buildin...

A lot of people don't even know some of the more creative properties you can buy with a VA loan (like mixed use or even a 6 unit apartment complex if you combine VA entitlement with another soldier).

If you're into long term buy and hold to target appreciation, Columbus is another market you can check out. 

Learn new strategies, new laws, creative ways of financing, and to gain new, different, and creative ways of buying / selling/ and owning. 

Anyone can buy a bunch of properties, can you sell them and make a profit is the real question.

I would like to talk to him about buying his property but at the very least just want to introduce myself and have good relationship with him.

Intricacies are a little different depending on if it's the buy side or sell side.

Do they need to buy their soon-to-be former spouse out?

I recommend checking out some of the BP books such as Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner or Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat by David Greene. 

Dallas is an excellent place to buy real estate, particularly for flipping and BRRRR.