I am new to BP and am starting my own real estate development business while I continue my full time architecture job (corporate, mostly retail; not residential).  

Home up for auction in a great neighborhood, suggestions on how to obtain it with a hard money lender or cash buyers?

This baby retails for $306.

Any suggestions???

My team and I are new to investing..we know someone who lives in Baltimore that suggests we take a look at Maryland to invest in an apartment building, but they're not into real estate so it was merely a suggestion. 

They are still motivated, however and may be willing to discount the property for let's say 15-20% off retail for a quick sale.

I recently attended a RE meetup event and the speaker emphasized treating real estate investments as cold, number-driven investments and actually suggested buying properties physically far away from the investor is one way to control for this to ensure that investment decisions are made dispassionately.

Any suggestions, tips, advice, don't-do lists that you all can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Any suggestions in the Northern New Jersey area?

There just aren't a ton of MFH on the market for a reasonable price2) Investing out of this market (say, Spokane, where its cheaper) is hard as well because I have to purchase and manage a property that is hours away by car, and this being my first investment, I'm not sure how well it would work to be so far away.So I'm sort of generalizing my concerns, so maybe someone has suggestions on how I can achieve #1 given my sitation.This leads me to this idea.