We have located a good parcel of land at a fair price, only issue is it's currently zoned for residential and we are planning to develop a small, 8-unit apartment on it.

Not what we are looking to do and all the MLS listings just don't pan out numbers wise so far.That's awesome that you got some returns on flips and found some buy & holds recently. 

My vacation market we are around $800 per night so the clientele is more family oriented and tend to spend most days in national parks or out adventuring.

However, as must as we strive for a hotel like experience we are not a hotel and we make that clear in listing and our welcome letter. 

We do some pretty conservative numbers (probably because we are new) so if the numbers work, we will pursue it.

We are still fine if each piece drop to $10.00 a piece (given that those are spare money).  

Even though no prepayment is possible, we are quoting a lot of 1, 2, or 3 year prepayments. 

@Jonathan Klemm we are in the process of making A LOT of renovations.

.: With the laws that the CA legislation has passed, you could piss off a city inspector and there is nothing they can do about a safe unpermitted unit.Possibly/probably....but I think the point we are all making is - why take chances on losing time and money and stressing yourself out?

i provide dishwasher if we are putting a new kitchen. also a garbage disposal.sometimes i provide washers/dryers if i have extra laying around (i always seem to have them).sometimes i have purchased fridges and ovens since it's best to invest in capital expense and get a tenant than to have a house sit empty forever.our lease also states that tenants should purchase the appliance plan, which noone really does purchase.