The Long-Distance Real Estate Investing book is a great one to get the lay of the land on doing it from afar, but getting on-site experience will also be important in your journey.

H1B lottery is a big gamble and adds a lot of uncertainty.

The homebuilder could have figured it out how to maintain overall grading/drainage of the site, but it was more so needed to satisfy the City.  

Do your research on people off of the site - on LinkedIn, Instagram.

The opportunity to receive cash flow from mobile home rentals, RV site hook ups and houses.

I would suggest anyone considering web developer to build a site to take this crucial factor into consideration.

Auction Sites or Distressed Property Listings: Sites like Auction.com or Hubzu sometimes list properties that need work but are in decent locations and within budget.Given your experience with renovations and your budget, exploring these options might get you closer to what you're looking for without having to compromise on property age or potential renovation challenges.

(I test concrete poured at job sites to ensure it meets required specifications) And as I said in my response to Caleb that job is pretty time intensive so I don’t really see working a second or third job as a possibility if I still want to have time to educate myself and stay rested.

Look them up on the tax records for free and then use a free site like Spokeo to search info on the owner.

How much of your free-time goes into research versus actual hands-on work on-site?