Quote from @Devin James: In one of our development projects, the City staff asked us to remove 40 units from our concept plan.This wasn’t requested by the City Commission at a formal hearing, it was the opinion of the staff.Our original concept already proposed fewer units than the current zoning would have allowed.Here’s what erasing 40 units means:- 40 fewer homes for buyers- Over $1M in lost profit for our team- Fewer tax dollars and impact fees that could’ve benefited the City’s infrastructure & servicesWe gotta get betterEveryone wants more affordable housing, but not everyone wants to do what it takes to achieve it we never listen to the recommending bodies. we move for city approvals and work closely. the other thing we do is keep going back to the same groups over and over and over and over every month on the same agenda and make very small reductions like 2% or 4% and that reduces and beats them down eventually they accept what you want. it's just before beating a dead horse. we keep tabling until they give us something we all agree on then we go to vote. in our city in columbus we have to get recommendations but that's our strategy. we used to come out as aggressive as possible. we typically study developments in the area and keep it very similar in terms of density. we have a track record of very controversial projects and litigation and not taking no as an answer. after a year of that haha I can tell you it's not worth it. now we are more relationship based and buying the right kinds of plots of land. if the numbers don't work on the front end don't do the development. 

Then on the other hand I am worried that I may be leaving some money on the table if the value going to go up in that market.  

This is a classic wrap.The second option is for me to collect $50k cash from Don and let Don pay off my $150k loan to Chase.

If I were the neighbor, it sounds like I'd be the only one bringing money to the table so you could get something you want.

Some of the moves you made are of the logic gamblers use when they're down at a table. 

Not saying you shouldn’t move forward, just that all options should be on the table!  

That means paying all cash isn’t an option unless you plan to bring another $600k to the table. . 

. , You may be making the classic owner mistake of listing at spring prices while you wait on spring.

What do you bring to the table that would make an investor-partner work with you? 

I remember a saying someone told me a couple of decades ago that convey's to real estate investing: "If you've been sitting at the poker table for 15 minutes and you can't figure out who the patsy is, you're the patsy!"