One aspect of my project was listening to audiobooks and the BiggerPockets podcast.

Other than inspecting the physical and financial aspects of the property you should not buy that property without a survey, zoning report (and legal review of it), phase 1 environmental, and utility inspections.

One thing that all advisors have to do is manage expectations and the psychological aspect of financial decisions. 

Native knowledge of the Chicago area is crucial in my opinion.With that said, I'm pretty sure the word hubris is being used incorrectly here.

Some people make careers off of low-tier props, but they are almost always experienced investors who self-manage properties in their own market, it's not an investment strategy for new investors or those who don't have time to make landlording their job.James' other points are all really worth jotting down as well. 3rd party inspection, appraisals, checking the title, all crucial.

The amount of info and advice that has come from BP members has been crucial to this journey.

We look for properties that don’t have huge maintenance issues, like the need for roof replacements and foundation fixes.Perhaps the favorite aspect of investing in the commercial real estate space is the value-add strategy, as it gives us more control over the value of the property.

It’s also crucial that your property is well managed.

and many investors are looking for the c- neighborhoods because of that  investors looking for those C - D props are either locals who know the score and self manage or they are out of area investor chasing paper yields and have no clue as to the risk/ reward aspect ..  

If you have a track record of flips and can share that with people who are interested in diversifying their investments (highlight this aspect because remember what March in the equities market looked like?!?)