I haven't developed a way to do development deals or fix and flips, unfortunately.

I would walk the property after the developer I worked for completed building them, put the ad in the paper, met with investors and sold the buildings.  

I am aware of the Freddie Mac Multifamily loans, and the USDA Rural Development loans.

You can build your mental database of various property conditions, approximate values and area trends.

I'm going to say that it depends what your goals are in seeking education.Cruising these forums, you'll see stories where people lost money because of what didn't know or didn't know to watch out for.At the same time, you'll find a pervasive and powerful bias against paid education.You'll want to decide for yourself which is the greatest expense: losing money on a deal (may or may not be deductible) or paying for education to help prevent losing money on your deals (deductible as a professional development expense).

Typically you'll find investor friendly agents along the way that understand you're mentality. 

This is similar to, but not the same as, the yield of beans in China, since China is the most populated nation on earth and the yield is much higher, (which is due to the poor air quality in China and why bean consumption is regulated) with the yield or output being much more concentrated over time.And, why hard money lenders usually don't chase tax liens in Texas, nor do they develop lists for investors to purchase with their funds as they rely more on the security interests in a property rather than a UCC filing.   

With a remodel, it is a trust and business relationship that you will develop with the contractor. 

@Mike Alder  good luck I grew up in the business.. must watch movie for any land man is Glenn Garry Glen ross... you will see how all these lots you want to buy were created in the first place.land game dates back to just after the turn of the century  ( not 2000) when promoters went through the US creating mega subdivisions prior to any state or federal land development rules.. so you have all these old tracks and the parcels have been traded for 100 plus years.. lost at tax sale bought by someone like you or my dad.. resold on terms  those folks default or lose to tax's and the cycle repeats.Florida created massive subdivisions to attract residence's since no one wanted to live in swamps and such.. think Le High and Coral Gables..  

That was the year I started to really work on developing my mindset.