I was wondering if it was possible to become a successful real estate developer in smaller markets like mine and the surrounding areas versus being in a major metropolitan city.

Newly educated , currently learnin from mentors and self development.

Though the units may have had proper heating, the pipes leading up to the units may be exposed to the cold.One particular property we had was vacant which made it all the more miserable since no one was in the property to heat it.

This does usually result in us using more paperwork/notices than necessary with our tenants, but covers our risk for the most part...generally, the  notices have the actual statutes printed on them and if you read through them thoroughly, states the proper routes to take in different situations and when to use a particular notice. 

In my area they can rent out at 1,000-1,200 all day long, and since there's so much demand, I can screen tenants properly without having to compromise just to avoid vacancy.

Sure, that's good enough"Stranger still is that the floors were completely level - which suggests that they may not have been properly tied into the walls.Thanks for the thoughts though.

Hello @Tiffany Milan keep searching the forums you'll find someone who can assist, in the meantime try to attend as many of the BP webinars and read as many books as you can, to develop a firm knowledge base.

However, the builder developers are incentivizing new units rentals with things like free first months rent, etc.

This is what I have tried to do and find that you will develop skills as both a lawyer and investor that make you a superior deal analyzer and negotiator to almost anyone else in that area.

Read this threads on partnering: How to Effectively Conduct Joint Venture Agreements as a Real Estate Investorhow-do-i-properly-construct-a-purchase-with-a-partnershiphttps://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/591...Taking-on-partner-s-and-limiting-our-liabilitesQuestions-for-capital-partners/Real-estate-partnership-questions/And here is a diagram to help guide you on this quest - talk with @Scott Smith to get implementation details: