Predicting the future when buying.

When buying an investment property, it's important to have a crystal ball and be able to predict the future. What?!  Ok, I know this is not realistic, but, if you know your market and the other people that are active in it, it is not impossible to see into the future.

The before picture here shows my property (brick building) after a fire destroyed a building that stood where the courtyard is.  This courtyard sat in this state for 8 years, making it an eyesore and political hot-button in our town.
A local businessman bought the building to the left of the courtyard from the town and planned to fix it up.  The courtyard was included with his purchase.  I know him and the quality of the work he does, so I bought the adjacent building that had been sitting on the market for 10 years.  People told me I was a fool, which is sometimes true, but not in this case.  My crystal ball was my connection to him.  He told me what his plans were and even helped with some work on my building so his courtyard was better looking overall.

   The after picture shows the fixed-up version of the courtyard as well as the re-pointed wall of my building. It 's beautiful and dramatically adds to the overall value of both properties.