I’ve already found some leads to follow up but figuring out whether deals are good or not has me a bit stumped for now.

I was new to Real Investment, and wanted to learn it so I can generate decent retirement income out of my  lifelong savings.

If they put an outside space to eat that is substantial then you decide if you want to charge a certain rent per sq ft for that as the business is generating additional sales per ft.No legal advice given. 

I am looking to connect with wholesalers, agents and anyone who might have leads.

By borrowing at a rate that is lower than the property generates with all cash, you are leveraging other peoples money.

I used to live in DMV as well before I moved to NY, I live in Queens area NY and I am doing REI, I have a great money machine with no hassle property in Winchester NY, No need and repair and there are a good tenants who are already living there so there is no more money or time you need to invest aster you bought it, just start collecting money....Right now it is generating 12K+ a month.

@Emily Refi checking back in with the post, I've gotten in contact with local lenders and they are all telling me the same things which leads me to believe finding the right lender with good financials as @Ned Carey mentioned will be most important.

What about some of the other leading indicators in your local markets?

One of the Atlanta area gurus  always preached borrowing as much as possible in the years leading up to 2007 crash.

We just had a young lady claiming to be able to generate 350K in sales per month with targeted Facebook ads, no overhead, no US mailing address, no ability or desire to verify her claims, all with a degree in political science from the University of Michigan (supposedly), a Wix website, and an Instagram account full of duck-face selfies and inspirational sayings.