Make sure the cash flow projections are actually coming from operations and not just financially engineering a return (read: over raising to fund the first couple year distributions).

For newbies jumping into flips or rentals, are you hitting up search engines to find options, or is it more of a trial-and-error thing?

Quote from @Bob Avery: I know this is contrary to a lot of the opinions on this forum, but if you consider the common case outcome rather than the best case outcome, you would probably be more successful in real estate if you choose engineering/medicine/law/business as a profession and real estate as a hobby (with tons of disposable income to dump into down payments and banks willing to lend you money) than you would be if you choose real estate agent / property manager as a profession.Totally agree!

If you did want to pay for a structural engineer to come out. 

Utilities, site upgrades, engineering? 

I come from a tech and systems engineering background, and for the past year I’ve been diving deep into real estate investing — especially non-traditional, no down payments and interest-free models.I’m currently exploring how a brand new concept that already works in several countries (group-purchase model for real estate) could be adapted to the U.S. market.

This is where an engineer breaks out parts of the building (like appliances, cabinets, parking lots, etc.) into 5-, 7-, or 15-year categories so they can be depreciated faster.

People believe they can short cut this by utilizing search engine marketing (SEM), which is paid for search results.  

A true scope of work outlines everything -- cabinets, trim, structural work (including engineer prescriptive) if removing load bearing walls, plumbing changes, electrical updates, etc. 

The window sill cannot exceed 44" from the finished floor level• There needs to be a• All apartments and hallways must have interconnected smoke detectors• One of the first floor apartments must be designed as a Type "B" accessible unit and must be on an accessible path• Accessible parking will be required for the buildingThe mechanical/electrical components of the building will need to be evaluated by an engineer to determine if modifications or upgrades will be required.An onsite review of the building may bring up additional issues beyond those mentioned in This is all very common building code requirements when doing multifamily.