I just closed a 5.4 million dollar land deal that I bought and I did wiggle the contract from another developer and I paid him 125k to assign it to me.. but there was no marketing he worked on it for two years got it  brought into the city spent at least 50k of his own money getting it to the point I would buy it. 

This is particularly helpful for my father who needs to work more aggressively to develop his portfolio so he can retire from his day job.

The relationships do take time to develop, then it is just too easy. 

Ideally I’d like to work for a developer and learn from there.

In either case, they can't be applied to all cases.My takeaways:1 - Your takeaways should have been understood long before you "jumped in".2 - You probably missed many more important takeaways than the obvious ones you mentioned.This post wasn't meant to criticize you, as much as it was to warn you NOT to continue "just jumping in". 

I am guessing when you said "University" you meant Michigan. 

That particular area has seen a lot of new high-end development in recent years, mostly condos and apartments. 

Has anyone used real estate appraiser services to help develop acquisition strategies in a particular area. i have been talking to some companies that say they can help me analyze trends in specific areas. 

LOI =  letter of intent     MLO is usually a mortgage lender so letter from them that your qualified.. and maybe Steve meant Master lease Option but will let him chime in on what he was saying..  

This unfortunately ruins it for the rest of my investors who still would like to make a pretty penny in promising/developing neighborhoods.I have seen many of my seasoned investors start to migrate to properties in Germantown and the outskirts of U-City as well as Grays Ferry as that neighborhood has experienced the trickle gentrification from Point Breeze the same way that Port Richmond has felt the benefits of Fishtown/East Kenzo.