Contractors are not always designers or visionarybut  you can n always study your property and create lemonade out of lemons.

I've been studying my butt off.  

man... i have been studying, listening to EVERY single bigger pockets podcast, read Brandon's books and i have annoyed most of my friends by just talking about Real Estate and how much it just MAKES SENSE but i cannot ( i hate using that word) figure out a way to purchase my own property.

The main reservation I have about the SCU grads is that they likely don't have an established employment history; I already know they were at different rentals every year during their studies (which is common for college students, including myself back then).But no matter, I'll collect data from all applicants and pick the one that looks and feels best (as @Kelly N. and others have suggested)

In college I studied Civil/Structural Engineering, and began working on fix and flips with family members when I graduated.  

Market Studies - $1500 and up9.

Additionally, clients want you to be knowledgable about the area, and there is some knowledge you just can't get form just doing a desk study of the market.  

You would be hard pressed to find properties in the 60 sq ft range which  are in your own backyard There is nothing like mining your own neighborhood and investing for both cash flow and appreciation Study you local market and I be you will find both types of properties that would be much less of a gamble then venturing into the unknown 

So based on studies of what is/isn't a hazard they've decided what they prefer for those areas. 

Meet as many people as you can and study up on the different strategies until you find what works best for you and your goals.Good Luck getting started.