The final ingredient is to take action and hang in there.Good luck!

Coming from a background in finance, I know that I will, one way or another, be able to find either a single partner, or group of investors who aren't afraid to pull the trigger, and who are interested in actually developing land, not destroying it, and creating beautiful properties to be sold along with beautiful margins.I'm also curious to know if any of you have tackled projects similar to this (I know I haven't given out the secret ingredient), just speaking of land acquisition / development / selling properties, repeat.Thoughts?

The key ingredient will be your property management company.

@Quinten Sepe  The key missing ingredient is time.

This was an invaluable experience and a key ingredient to fast tracking our success.

Earning a nice salary will also help you kick start your business.There are no one-size-fits-all ingredients for success, but in my opinion the path of a higher probability of being successful is going to college first.

@Larisa Dalekorey - I see a lot of opinions on this thread which can be great but I think you left out a key ingredient to the equation.

Taking action is the key ingredient.

I also agree that not being a slumlord and having good PM are key ingredients in not being sued regardless of the way you go with it.  

That is a critical - and often difficult to achieve - ingredient in your plan, and one that has only become more challenging with changes in the labor markets the last couple of years.