After working so long and hard to get to this point in my career, I steadily realized that I'll never make the kind of living that I want by working for other people.

We have 1031 investors that have moved from SF to MF to NNN commercial, to land leases or industrial   and back again throughout their careers saving millions in tax dollars and providing incredible leverage to their investing careers. 

Getting the lawyer on my property's tax case to go from giving me MAJOR attitude, to (joyfully) taking special efforts to extend the upcoming foreclosure date until I can close on the property, whenever that is.I'm hoping by writing it out in this forum post, I will think more intently on it, and be able to produce results like these more regularly!

Anyway, my wife and I have exceeded both our career salaries but both find joy in what we do.  

Scott Scheel mentions that for bigger properties it is tough to get a good deal in markets that are already showing good indications of future growth (either already in the process of growing, or showing the "obvious" increases in population/job growth) He says the best deals are frequently found in weak or even declining markets where you have much better leverage with sellers.This is a risky proposition because real estate trends seem to last quite a while, but if timed correctly an investor can do much better than average by getting in early before the rest of the herd does.Do you guys have any ideas of how to anticipate a potential turnaround area before the census data refects it (IMO this data is a beacon to RE investors) I have a couple ideas I think may be worth looking into:-Projected inflow of large, new employer-New transportation artery-Unaccounted change (in census data) of demographics (undesirables moving out, nicer crowd moving in)-Perhaps a well structured conversation with someone at the economic planning department to find out how close to fruition some upcoming changes are taking place.

So if you put it all together......After following Jons advice which I think should be the initial step, then you should get right into the numbers in general and then specifically, financing availability, investment resources, on a more global aspect how does the project fit into the areas master plan, is the area upcoming or stagnant....then you should flow right into Corey's description of due dilligence....What I mean by getting into the numbers is basically, does it make money and if it does....how does the return compare to risk and does it have a reasonable time value factor.....Is the project a good investment if I were asking you to invest your money in it?.....

Just wanted to let you know that I am especially thankful to have BP and the community here as a resource to build my Real estate career...

Pursuing one's PhD is an eight-year tour of college campuses, most usually followed by a career teaching within those soft confines.Get these academics out for a couple years in the real, non-theoretical world working as roofers or plumbers or waitresses and they will quickly grasp the true value of actually 'earning' a livelihood.

It was a very interesting stop in my career.

I've relocated and find a new career so I don't want to risk taking that hit.