I'm a total newbie when it comes to real estate and my ultimate goal is producing cash flow through buy and hold means.

The suburbs are pretty healthy though.

After that, if I were you, I'd test it ASAP and forget the runaround - if you plan on renting or selling later, you'll need to prove that the house was abated or whatever from all LBP.Yes our FHA 203k did reimburse the cost of LBP abatement - somewhere along the way Sage Acquisitions changed its mind on the number by $500 though, even though they're the ones that produced and signed the document. 

Is ARV on a multifamily home based solely on its ability to produce rental income?

My challenge has been finding areas that will support small scale new construction cost, while producing a good return. 

If I was younger and starting over in this business I would try and become a buyers agent on a very high producing team in your local area.

We have been getting offers from the bigger builders IE Lennar and a few large regionals and this would produce a nice profit now..

My moving back home stratigy was to try to reinvest the property into an incoming producing property to help him retire.

If I am able to get tenants in the properties and make them no-brainers I feel the value goes up because I took all of the risk and time to get them fully turnkey producing cashflow. 

I've recently inherited a very healthy amount of money and I fully intend to use it to jump start my real estate investing career.I am very eager to get started as I feel I've learned a lot, but am ready to learn even more by jumping in and learning by doing.