These are professionals with additional training and a stricter code of ethics.

Nikfirst and foremost you should know the zoning codes  and what is allowed in the base zone without conditional use permits IE permitted uses.. this should take you all of 5 minutes to figure out.as developers we know the base ... we then make the offer with Due Diligence.. no one has it worked out before they make an offer.. unless its off market and they been hunting it for a while.. all land or development deals come with due diligence time.most sellers these days though want POF and a brief description of your ability to execute.and depending on the size of the deal you will need 25 to 100k in cash for EM and prelim work.its common to lose money on due diligence. 

At 50 lots its just too big for a part time manager and a full time salary drives up OpEx at least to the 35% range.  

@Corey Walz In terms of proof of funds and liquidity you need to find someone to be a KP on your deal which comes with a price of course and a piece of equity in a deal that you two would negotiate.

We usually can lend 90% purchase and 100% rehab..but you are going to need 5 deals and a 680 FICO. and in a good area (close to a Home Depot). 

I just purchased a duplex in july and a tenant is saying that there are rat droppings being found now.

My daughter just bought a house in St Louis, and it was inspected, and a year later, the basement smells like rotting mold.

Just google it and a few templates should show up.

Lessons learned: always maintain cash reserves for maintenance/repairs, fire bad contractors pronto, be friendly with renters but not friends, a decent buyer's agents do not make a good seller's agent, I must always keep my thumb on the numbers and eyes on the contractors, and as with anything else -- you get what you pay for when it comes to contractors Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

For example, I bought a duplex this year that had brand new furnaces, hot water heaters, and AC units, and a roof that is 4 years old.