I came across this forum while researching the REDI Foundation as well as ULI and NAIOP courses and was impressed by the responsiveness and knowledge of the contributors.I'm 31 years old and a licensed professional engineer in 30+ states.

who dropped out of engineering school to pursue my passion in real estate.

And @Christy Harris, you forgot to mention that Huntsville has a good mix of people from all over the United States (and world really), is one of the top three engineering hubs in the country, and has some of the best schools in the south!

Our friend is an engineer and successfully managed their renovation here in Prairie Village 10 years ago.

In my world, which is landlording, its been immensely helpful from a property management standpoint, because every time a tenant does something stupid, I get to engineer my way around their stupidity, and the creative part is fun for me.  

In regards to economics, if booking engines (HA, VRBO) are increasing fees on customers, wouldn't that change the economics?

I am a software engineer by undergrad degree and trade and i've got a JD hanging on my wall that I don't use for much more than experiments in how temperature variations effect dust collection rates. 

County data tends to get real messy around multi-family, and so getting to a good list takes some reverse engineering.

They will probably require that you hire a surveyor and engineer to lay it all out - if you know any builders that can recommend someone.

Recommend having a structural engineer take a look at it.