There are good people and, in order to sidestep a heavily nuanced label, people who may have other priorities which may cause conflicts of interest.. 

If you plan on investing heavily in the area, I would focus on getting properties on the same block.  

Lot's of more red tape to get through because a project of that size will cause ripples into other areas so they scrutinize it heavily versus smaller projects that tend to fly under the radar.

I'm hoping to buy a multi family (preferable a tri or quad plex) in the coming months and I'm heavily leaning towards getting a FHA loan.

Oil companies are investing heavily in West Texas oil fields in 2017 and are showing lots of movement in relocating employees there.

Additionally, there were plenty of investors who were heavily leverages in their RE investments in 2007 thinking life was grand, and a year later the sky was falling. 

Again, as to compliance issues, understand what prudent lending practices are and what is seen or can be seen as predatory, this applies to commercial or consumer financing, just that consumer loans are heavily regulated.

Your selection of "projects" will be different in each scenario.We are buy and hold investors but even among our selection of rentals, we would have different priorities:student rental units - looking for simple. healthy, efficient, durable, and easy to clean;rooming house - focus is even more heavily on energy/resource efficiency since we carry the costs.executive rentals - higher end finishes and furnishings.

@Nick NoonOur perception is always colored so heavily by where we live. 

I really heavily on mine and would not be able to be in real estate without them.Just throwing in another perspective :)