The land is zoned for industrial use I think, and is located up in the Lancaster/Palmdale area right across from an airstrip and was purchased for around $108k.

It is common to the industry.

Hospitals, colleges, recreation opportunities or some sort of industry all help.But a lot of this depends on your time horizon.

Veterans of the industry talking about how newbies are being saved by incredible and unusual appreciation in home values.  

Study employment, trade, commerce and industry trends.

Bigger Pockets is a great resource of information for newbies, however, the boards at times over simplify a complicated industry where mastery takes time.  

There are too many cooks in the kitchen and the project and IRR suffer-Licensed professionals that fall into FINRA-based compliance regimes given their business model shun these deals because they're too small to generate commissions sufficient to cover the cost of compliance-FINRA-based professionals propagate reams of nonsense in the industry to justify paying layers of fees that are not needed.  

Wow, that seems like something that is shortsighted by our industry as a whole.

Hospitality financing would require owner experience in the industry. 

Pittsburgh has seen a revitalization especially with computer automation industries such as Google, Uber and Amazon opening up large shops here.