Assume "good" real estate market conditions...My (severely naive) conventional wisdom tells me that if I build a 3/2 home on a vacant lot, my "All In" costs for the home would be considerably less than if I were to purchase a home of the SAME configuration on the same lot.  

We currently have standard insurance on each of the four properties but noting else.My wife and I are in our late 30's, we have pretty significant savings/investments/retirement accounts and we've grown concerned that a liability claim originating from one of the rental properties could wipe out either our personal savings or our other properties.What is the conventional wisdom on protecting your assets against a liability claim? 

Just looking for any wisdom that's out there on how to find that first deal.

Any and all advice or experiential wisdom is welcomed, thank you all!

Folks,I have a tax related question for the collective wisdom of the forum.

The only thing you have left is the experience, insight, and wisdom that you've accumulated over the years. 

I gave him life-changing knowledge and wisdom without any guru pitch. 

OK - those are my humble words or wisdom.  

This is a great opportunity for profit as the house is already undervalued I believe at $73,500 considering the acreage alone and the fact that the house is in decent shape.My questions are.... do any of you have wisdom or ideas to share on how to make such a deal work out considering the circumstances above?

If you believe in the conventional wisdom that the commercial market lags behind the residential market, you should be able to make the switch and ride things out while the residential side is tanking.On top of that, getting into a large enough commercial deal would allow for the possibility of a cost segregation study to accelerate depreciation.