I know I've read of investors buying land with timber that ends up paying for the land itself to then develop, but I can't recall hearing talk of valuing the timber on sale. 

The place might make a nice little retreat that should almost pay for itself with a new double wide and a single wide, but I would not get all wound up to do a development there.

This is a people business, so network and develop your social skills.

You will get a much higher return here flipping and/or developing properties, then deploy your profits in another market where you can find cash flowing properties, lend your money as a private lender, etc.

Tons of new shopping developments and residential builds. 

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.

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