They wouldn't have any skin in the game and could just walk away and leave you high and dry if things go wrong with the property.

it is technically a real thing but very rare, and there is plenty of historical data out there that shows those who have less skin in the game are at a far greater risk of default by a factor of 5-7x.

Hi, I’m having difficulty finding a company to lend on vacant land in California.

My experience has been that purchase transactions where the buyer has no or little skin on the game have a default rate many times that of buyers who place a significant down payment into the deal.  

But it seems there have been difficulties on the construction end. 

Again, other might feel differently here.b) Skin in the game: as a conservative investor, I understand that the dirty secret of industries that the waterfall compensation is in the line with me and incentivizes sponsors to take more risk.

Not every state or city mandates that any landlord has to accept Section 8, because the landlord has to not only subject their property to Section 8 inspections, rules and regulations, they also often have to separately arrange for the tenant to pay the non-covered part of the rent and can face difficulty evicting just based on that.

How do they get tenants in place, and how difficult is it really?

People with no skin in the game are telling you it is not hte blue mans fault even based on what you told them. 

They have more skin in the game then you do.Make sure you get clear title.