EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!

The challenge for present day investors is with elevated mortgage rates and record high housing prices, the carrying costs and incentive to invest now can be restrictive. 

You also won’t have to worry about any fees or closing costs.

@Trey Onufrii It's tough to say which one is the better investment without more details, like - cost of each parcel(s), are there utilities close by (especially the Jomax site), what's the terrain like on the hilltops? 

Not a good idea for some of the same reasons-high costs of purchase combined with inexperience and renos gone bad/out of control. 

Do you know what the reno should really cost, not just agreeing with the GC? 

I canceled our online subscription and bought one desktop version.I hate paying $650/year now for QB Desktop but it’s the lowest-cost solution to our problems.

Not sure, if this means hiring multiple people (one for appraisal, one for inspection, one for cost estimates)3.

I am retired and working on career #2 and 2 of 3 of our kids have left for college - our oldest is headed to UConn for her PhD (6 years) and instead of paying to rent, our thoughts are to do a version of a house hack with buying a house/condo and renting out one to two rooms to offset the costs of her rent.

They had signed the lease, but I had held off signing until they paid the upfront move-in costs.