Now the last tree I had removed was 5 years ago and the arborist took it to a friends house that has a mill where he was planning on milling the tree into oak flooring for a house he was building.My question is should I bother trying to get some value out of this tree one way or another?

You can partner with someone, one deal at a time, and see how the first one goes.Values based decision making, make sure your goals and values align with your partner.

Updating these areas can significantly increase the property's value and rental appeal.2.

Seller financing is not always a cure for a bad deal, unless you can create value. 

You also would perhaps want to focus on value add investments that you can get at a discount but only need cosmetic repairs?

You can look at the after repair value and subtract your costs. for example if it is worth $2M after fixing up, costs $1.5M to build, then the land is worth $500K.2.

Its easier to have investment success in areas with growth, as a rising economy raises all values. 

its super common in low value assets.

Why spend money on something that isn't broke, that doesn't add any value or ROI?

What Bruce says about new homes is accurate.New communities CCRs needs to be reviewed so you are not stack in a property that can't be rented out.ROI will be very los what I see in new communities is 10yrs in average, it will all depend on the time in the market.Another thing with new communities in those growing cities is that they are not investors friendly for LTR as the rent price tends to be lower than in other market.However there are plenty of opportunities in North Dallas, many other cities with growing population are great to invest.