I also may stay a night at each rental complex and get a feel listing.

But, if the cost is fairly nominal, maybe under a couple grand, and you have no experience in real estate, including owning your own home and hiring contractors for that, then it is likely worth it.I would always start with a deep assessment of where you feel you don't have adequate knowledge.  

Condo's typically are cheaper entries but have additional HOA costs which usually eat profits. 

I would recommend you interview each PM to understand what they charge, what their systems are for management, etc.

Once all of the above is known, and you have a preliminary site plan showing how many lots (and the size of lots) are available, you can start putting together numbers on the cost of the whole project.

If you do the work before the property becomes a rental, it won’t be deductible but can increase your cost basis for capital gains tax.

Then they help analyze the purchase deal when it arrives from the solar companies.

@Rob Ibarra Converting non restaurant space into restaurant space can be fairly costly from what I understand due to the need for larger than standard water lines to service the building and a general need for grease traps and other restaurant specific infrastructure.My first question around going from abandoned auto shop to kitchen is zoning, could you even get the use approved, and then are their any environmental factors in play? 

Having the bare minimum can be okay but it also puts them in danger if something should cost the HOA and when that account goes to zero or under 10% they generally raise the HOA fee's.

Do market research and interview local investor-friendly agents to understand if theirs rapport, systems in place, and, most importantly, deals.