This is a time consuming process and I actually oversee it personally because of my direct knowledge of the properties and tenancy but the 8 hours per year I put into it will save us approx $10,000-$35,000 (Mostly Cook County) per year on the batch of 125 resi we contest and another $60,000-$75,000 of the industrial/retail we manage.The difference in savings is really based on the amount of properties we are buying because we generally purchase vacant so the first 18 months we use the vacancy factor to contest.  

My now ex-property manager steered me away from vouchered tenants, to my dismay, and toward lower-paying, less reliable market tenants because qualifying a property through the inspection requirements of Baltimore's Housing Choice Voucher Program (Baltimore's moniker for Section 8) is more demanding and time-consuming.

Generally, such a project looks like it fits into the County/City General Plan.Presently I am in the process of changing my business model towards Note Arbitrage and this could be highly lucrative but time consuming.

Chad:Saw your post about courthouse auctions.Here are a couple of sites I look through to see if there's anything worthwhile.http://publicnotices.molawyersmedia.com/http://www.substitutetrusteecorp.com/sales.phpThe first one can be time consuming, but you can find some that might be worthwhile.I've found some of the main website, Hubzu, Auction, and HomePath to be easier to find foreclosures.The courthouse can be a pain. 

How ever,  Credit Cards are also used as "hooks" by banks to get  the regular consumer in a bad habit of start carrying balances.  

Economic development can move with eminent domain, it's time consuming and frankly, they already know about what the cost will be going that route, which again, is part of that inflated offer that was made.

Kevin,There is a book published by the NYC planning dept called "Zoning Handbook" http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/pub/zonehand.shtm...  

Consumer debt is around $12,000 credit cards (from moving expenses in 2012), an auto loan of $16,000, a 'bridge' loan that was used to pay closing costs when I sold my property earlier this year of about $7,000, $4,000 to the IRS for personal income taxes for 2013 due to an ignorant mistake on my W4, and about $60,000 in student loans between my wife and i.

Once I get through this paid course, I'm going to consume absolutely everything that I can here on wholesaling, flips, and buy and holds.  

Elizabeth, "Reluctant Landlord" is an apt description; I'm looking forward to consuming your articles.