We do open house style showings for a half hour time slot, and can get 10 different applicants all showing up at once to see a specific unit - and it's a struggle to keep track and follow up with potential applicants through the process with so many applying.  

There are still allot of hard working folks in Detroit with a sense of pride of ownership and pride in their life style if they are renters you just have to take the time to get familiar with the areas that are still civilized. 

All finishes, materials, etc are already scoped and picked out, we have a template for 3 different styles of rehab, and don't change from them very often. 

Yea Yea you're supposed to know what your buyer will pay from the start but its not always that easy and i have been off in my numbers before, my area is very very tough, every home is completely different style, land, builder, acreage; it's not like the cookie cutter homes in phoenix.   

I ended up getting molding from lumber liquidators and it matches perfectly.Another online retailer, lightingdirect.com has really good prices on lighting and free delivery.For tile I ended up going with Home Depot as they had some styles I liked that were in my price range, but all the other above places have tile too.Another good source of info is to ask your contractor where they shop, good luck!

I focus on destination type tenants such as barber shops, vet places, regular doctors office, emergency clinics, restaurants, karate schools, fitness centers, environmentally friendly dry cleaners, etc.These are places people HAVE to go to do business.

Find a niche that works best for your life style.  

If you can pre-lease the building, or at a minimum get several good comps showing that leasing will be easy, financing will be easy too.I like that this version has three separate plausible income streams:- Billboard- Building- Land play (I assume, since Denver is hot)Maybe a fourth from upping the zoning too, as @Douglas Dowell said earlier.You might consider running a Phase 1 environmental as part of your due diligence.

If you want to do them for the sake of environmental reasons, that is totally your prerogative.

My dream would be to take older homes and restore them while also making them environmentally friendly.