Buying the right property knowing you could do some conversion could be a big win it seemsz I wonder if permitting or some other red tape would get in the way if you specifically targeted This kind of situation for value add. 

I can’t keep taking risks and expect to win each time.

Hey BiggerPockets,I'm interested in starting my real estate investing with small apartment buildings (around 5-12 units) in the Pittsburgh area but am having a tough time finding real estate agents who excel with these property types.Any suggestions on generating leads and finding agents who specialize in this apartment building size?

@Joshua Paul the answer to your question is that yes, this is an excellent idea!

For flips, I excel in valuing the as-is and as-repaired values and produce forward looking valuations based on market trends.

I heard MIT has an excellent Commercial RE program

Continuous cash flow will win anytime over sexy infrequent check.

It is the "guts" of the evaluation that will tell you if you win or lose on it. 

I felt that my quantitative background can give me a great advantage because I probably spend more time on excel analysing and building models than most agents out there.

You'd need to work the numbers as a win for you and them.