As soon as you can comfortably do it just change the exterior door locks.

She believes that by working hard at her day job she will be able to live a comfortable life while I want to make sacrifices now to invest and live more than comfortably in 10 years.  

I also wasn't comfortable w that as a newbie.  

I have more than 8 years experience in construction field, specially in interior design and home remodeling but not in US.

Regardless of what I had I felt more comfortable with the construction business.  

But I am comfortable with the quality of tenant and rentability of the building in the area. 

Also, you can have 2 apts buildings with the same square footage and same materials, but one can cost a lot more than the other because of how they're designed/layed out, so you need someone who has actually built an apt building involved in the design phase.  

In the past my deals went a lot smoother when I talked to the Seller directly, not worried too much about the commission etc, but more of asking the right questions and being able to feel comfortable about the property and the deal and found the Sellers walked away happy as well.

Obviously the size of the lot will dictate how many units I could ultimately get in there but this zoning designation is pretty crazy in what it allows for developers to do.

If it becomes a "must rent now" situation, you might consider selling (I hear the market is good there at least according to all the Realtors sending me flyers trying to get me to sell my property there) so it might be a good time to cash out and get back to a comfortable spot.