If anyone could help me figure out some great tools to use that help me key in on national housing averages, local housing averages, comp sales, market trends, properties(types) that are selling, as well as tools that help with valuing houses accurately.

Thanks @Jay Hinrichs  for pointing this out.Talking about evaluating risks and thinking of worst case scenarios, one tool I use is the RISK-MITIGATION-CONTINGENCY plans.

You can find contractors to do this for you, or Harbor Freight sells dremel tools with diamond bits for a few dollars.

If you are new, however, you don't have that familiarity with the rest of the community.Thus, a "vote-to-post ratio" is a helpful tool for newer users especially to quickly see who the community feels is credible.  

Im looking for recommendations for a non ventalated small closet for sportswear/ equipment/ sneakers/ tools .

I was wondering, with the amount of tech tools these days, are "bird dogs" an endangered species?

It reminds me of J Scott's diary posts, & could be a great educational tool for everyone.I did an urban planning studio in that neighborhood when I was at GA Tech.

I'm always careful to avoid sounding like I'm bragging but I've found mentioning my investing (which I enjoy talking about with people anyway) is a great networking tool in and of itself.

Our electrical bill last month was $175 ... which included heat (the one baseboard) and running all our tools during 4-weeks where the daily high temperature was seldom over 0F.  

; it's a great tool to take the uncertainty and emotion out of the deal!