This was a hard thing for me to learn since I build houses, I build at wholesale and I can make  money selling the homes I build at retail but if I keep them I still made the money.

@Sidney Stephens  when you say you have been priced out of the fix and flip retail market in your area .. your talking about fixing and selling to homeowners correct ?

With retail clients having the time period can be a good way to protect yourself in the transaction.

Is it a false market in some cases   probably .. if the out of state investor goes off the feed the pressure on those assets would diminish to the local demand which in many areas simply is not very much.the other thing to keep in mind is markets are separated.. you have markets that are being sought after for cash flow but not much flip and fix retail goes on there and if it does its usually locals who don't need a BP presence to resell or talk about their markets.But for the cash flow markets this is the provence of turn key companies and sellers of lower end assets that create returns ( when they work right) that are greater than were other investors live.. thereby creating a demand

Figure out beforehand if you can, what area you want to go into--apartments, retail, office, industrial, investment sales, etc.

This will at least get you started on the "As of Right" development potential within your designated zoning district..Potential to change zoning, obtain variances etc will be more involved, costly and risky (with great potential payoff) but it opens up a whole other conversation.If you can develop a concept plan for the property based on Zoning and Land development ordinances, you can then estimate yield/size of building lots, comparable new construction outsale value and then work backwards from finished product costs to help determine retail value and then wholesale value of a building lot.

When a home is worth $330k retail, I assume the comps you gave were listed properties.

I am ultra conservative by nature, slow and steady is my natural and preferred pace for all things.

Example you own a small office building or a retail strip center and rent out the remaining spaces.

Multifamialy, self storage, retail, office, etc