Improved the house to have a basement rental that covered your mortgage, then sold for $100k profit with basically nothing into it.   

@Tanner Sherman makes a great point regarding REPS and whether or not one can benefit from the accelerated depreciation.To answer your question @Alex Bellini, each property, and type of property is unique and have different assets and amounts that can have accelerated depreciation into 5 year (personal property) and 15 year (land improvement) categories. 

Not improved.

I also typically had higher make ready costs versus my higher end properties.  

They are rezoning to PUD RMD 104 to 247 units on all 13 dry mostly clear and improved acres with 1580 ft frontage & city water on the street and city water & sewer across the street.

https://www.har.com/content/newsroom/Houston Real Estate Highlights in November-Single-family home sales rebounded from a slight decline in October, rising 3.9 percent with 8,320 units sold versus 8,010 in October 2020;-Days on Market (DOM) for single-family homes dropped from 46 to 35;-Total property sales rose 5.6 percent with 10,216 units sold;-Total dollar volume increased 20.6 percent to $3.7 billion;-The single-family average price rose 12.6 percent to $383,807; -The single-family median price increased 16.3 percent to $314,000 – an all-time high first reached in June of 2021; -Single-family home months of inventory registered a 1.6-months supply, down from 2.1 months year-over-year and below the national inventory of 2.4 months;-On a year-to-date basis, single-family homes sales are 12.0 percent ahead of 2020’s record pace and 22.2 percent ahead of 2019.

It is improved residential land that is ready to build with power and water at the property line.

I want to add value but not over improve.

Houston Real Estate Highlights in NovemberSingle-family home sales rebounded from a slight decline in October, rising 3.9 percent with 8,320 units sold versus 8,010 in October 2020;Days on Market (DOM) for single-family homes dropped from 46 to 35;Total property sales rose 5.6 percent with 10,216 units sold;Total dollar volume increased 20.6 percent to $3.7 billion;The single-family average price rose 12.6 percent to $383,807; The single-family median price increased 16.3 percent to $314,000 – an all-time high first reached in June of 2021; Single-family home months of inventory registered a 1.6-months supply, down from 2.1 months year-over-year and below the national inventory of 2.4 months;On a year-to-date basis, single-family homes sales are 12.0 percent ahead of 2020’s record pace and 22.2 percent ahead of 2019.Townhome/condominium sales rose 16.8 percent with the average price up 16.0 percent to $258,970 and the median price up 10.5 percent to $210,000;Single-family home rentals rose 7.1 percent with the average rent up 8.5 percent to $2,042; Townhome/condominium leases increased 5.1 percent with the average rent up 3.8 percent to $1,737.Source HAR 

So I spent the next few years learning, and reading, and improving my credit, and paying off debts, and increasing my income, and eventually, years later, I bought a house!