The man selling said he knows he will lose money on the deal as the property already appraised for $560,000 but would love to get a young investor like myself into the game since his son did not end up sticking with it.

Hopefully you know some local fellow investors, but if not, certainly developing this local network is important and would put an emphasis on that as well.   

I know many developers like yourself with the same issue ("trapped" equity they can't access unless they sell the property).

Have a ton of experience in the rental market, and ground up development including industrial and retail.  

Unless you bought RE a few years ago, created equity via successful BRRRR, flip, or do a combination you're just playing the appreciation game. 

The BRRRR method and creative financing are game-changers!

And I generally require a sponsor that has full real estate cycle experience with little to no money lost, low leverage, high skin in the game and reasonable fees and promotes.However, other investors will look at these deals as bad/too boring for them because they are more aggressive and not concerned about the risks of default, refinance, interest rates changing etc.

At Pink Development and Construction, we focus on smart strategies that balance risk and reward.

The current game is flipping which is a job (stop flipping and you stop making money) or more patience than I have.  

Start with Strategy by Dave Meyerhttps://a.co/d/8u2CtKyI read this book in Sept and it seriously changed the game for me.