If it doesn't, his wife will never trust him again to take an investment swing on anything. 

I'd say the logical paradigm in the question is a bit off.CRE includes everything from airports to golf courses to hospitals to campgrounds.So saying "residential versus commercial" is like saying "bacon versus plant life."

Most land buyers who are developers usually stick to a very predefined region within their local market and they hunt and wait for killer deals and market swings to get the land they want for the very specific purpose they want.

Finding something on Zillow and taking a swing just doesn't work unless you can pay cash for a property that does not qualify for conventional financing. 

Even the 3400 would be pretty amazing if you could swing it.The bottom line is what a place like that would bring.

Humans are highly influenced by recency bias thus the cash vs equity conversation swings back and forth.

You can make a lot of money here, but as an out of state investor you can end up upside own if you don't understand the value swings in each of the neighborhoods.

We are literally next to a golf course and about 10 mins from a ski place and I don't think fancier amenities would generate a ton of ROI. 

When you researched markets like Austin las Vegas Miami, those markets have higher land cost and are more cyclical in nature tend to have larger price swings compared to regions with lower land costs.

It wasn’t teh flashiest deal, but it’s been rock-solid through rising rates and market swings.