This is an older guy who had bad experiences as a land lord before.

I wish you the best of luck in your real estate investing career!

You have the college side of New Brunswick, the downtown corporate area, and to the left of the RWJ hospital is where it starts to get bad a little.

I'm looking to do a flip in Atlanta and my issue with my first house that I purchased was dealing with bad contractors.

I also think it is a good idea to minimize your taxes now, while positioning yourself the best you can for the future (where everything is an unknown).It certainly would not be a bad thing to also use your retirement accounts to invest in real estate (as long as you are very careful to follow the rules- avoid self-dealing!). 

You can get your deals done right on this site, so congratulations Nick and I wish you all the best in your real estate investing career.

Real estate gets much harder if you have bad credit.

Do you think it is a bad idea to purchase near these vacant properties?

As @Rick Pozos mentioned, if it's listed, and it's been on the market a while, it's likely overpriced, has a major issue(s), or the surrounding area is so bad that it's driving buyers away. 

I'm looking for a career in manufactured home sales, my nay sayers say stay away, but I say otherwise.