Lot divisions are controlled by county laws and involve fees and surveys and approvals by boards.

I have $120,000 in a fund with a local bank and want to use this money to become more involved in real estate.

Not with 1000s on the market in your area that are distressed.Not sure I'd want to get involved at all since if you buy it at a foreclosure sale, he may still not want to leave the house, or he might push his best buddy for some extra time to stay rent free.

I plan on trying to increase equity in any property I get involved in-I have a construction background and a couple of contractrs I would like to get involved with me if this could become a reality.

Usually it involves a 1% fee and you will have to be underwritten.

With that said if you were looking to purchase at least you could use this as an option if the owner were to ever receive the OTD (Order to Docket) dont get me wrong some lenders are just down right nasty and will still proceed, but if you have no money involved and just contract paperwork by all means it is worth a try.

Many of the successful firms involved with real estate have returns around 8.0% to 9.0% annually.

Another thing you might consider is to find a local real estate group to join and learn first hand from those actively involved in deals.

So, if it were me, I wouldn't like losing a good tenant but I certainly wouldn't sell the place because of it since I know it wouldn't take me more than a couple days to fill the vacancy.To even get me to THINK about selling, someone would have to come up with a good reason for selling that involves me be able to use the money from the sale to do something different and make even MORE money/cashflow.

Either way, you'll need to fully understand all the costs involved.