Unlike a car or a box of bubble gum, housing provides a human need in our society.

: https://www.ifunding.co/blog/urban-re-development-and-the-charlotte-nc-real-estate-market-with-kenneth-bell/

I invest in Chicago - in the Urban A/B neighborhoods near transit and in the $300k range.  

And society has been evolved to avoid the necessity of it.  

E.x. if you already own the land..a joint venture will likely be available.I highly recommend the urban land institute and a book called "real estate development work book and manual" by Howard Zuckerman as a place to get started.City and Counties do play but most often with some sort of tax incentive.  

I'd love to get into infill new construction in the urban core, but curious about the processes here.

In large urban areas with relatively concentrated housing, there are generally a large pool of ready buyers so as a flipper it helps to alleviate the risk of being stuck with inventory. 

We only get one life and the whole idea of making it your own has been so far suppressed in society, people don't even know it's possible.

From my analysis so far, rural markets seem like they would cash flow better than in some urban areas of NY (or at least in the Capital Region).

Upscale high-earning tenants often will pay more to live in a 100% smoke-free building, even in urban areas.