So I consider myself a beginner.I have an opportunity where an old friend of the family, in his late 80s, had started to develop a 9 lot subdivision.

I called the Land Bank to see if I could redeem the property but it has already been sold to a developer. 

Live in one unit and rent the others, this would give you additional units without extra mortgages, and help scale your business quicker. 

At this point, we're just looking for a little extra income and the possibility of doing this into retirement. 

It is a large scale duplex project by developer with around 40 duplexes in community.  

You also need to project out if this will also affect long-term decisions to maximize the zoning if you think the highest and best use is to develop.

I’m developing cold feetA contract that favors the seller and a standard Minnesota contract for deed.

There is the possibility of expansion as we are going to get about 15 additional Acres that have not been developed yet.

So glad you've discovered Bigger Pockets early in your real estate investing journey...sounds like you've already developed a great plan to break into real estate in ATL.A few tips that may be helpful to you here on the BP website:You can set up keyword alerts so anytime someone posts about Atlanta or any of the specific neighborhoods you're evaluating, you'll be notified.

Or in other words, 99% of the RE investors are not RE agents :)You don't need the exam to develop credibility.