One of the best ways to go as described by John Jackson in Tarrant County (Ft.Worth in Texas) who teaches this method for about 15 years and has developed a good sales contract that gets you paid before the product sales and he usually quotes the list price to the owner in a fairly nice area.He usually calls houses For Sale By Owner in decent areas. 

I'm here to learn and to develop this understanding into something profitable and long-term. 

If the deal is negative CF and you don't have a prearranged deal with a developer I personally would walk.

A lot of times the economic development department will have the vacancies also check with property managers.

Rent-o-meter shows good rental comps over in that area and as W.Phila starts to develop, properties continue to appreciate.

With the new stadium and the development along the river (finally) there would seem to be good opportunity around there.

I am looking to learn how I can utilize this community of like minded people to begin developing a network of connections. 

Thank you for the shout out Scott--hope all is well in the self-storage and development world!!

Budgeting never came natural for me either but I’ve recently been picking up on saving habits but I’ve still got far more to develop.

I can tell you from experience underwriting deals for a number of institutional and semi-pro investors that they have achieved IRRs greater than 15% and yields greater than 8% in markets like San Francisco, LA, NY, and DC that advertise 4% cap rates.Markets with low cap rates typically share the following characteristics:1) Strong rent growth, driven by2) Strong population growth, driven by3) Strong job growth4) Low vacancy5) High per bed rents (lower operating costs as a percentage of total rent)6) Good property management options7) Higher quality tenants (young professionals like myself will rent in SF until their late 30s to early 40s)To achieve returns in these markets, investors buy buildings with significant value-add or development opportunities on very low to no leverage (debt), and refinancing the deal after stabilization to cash out.