My suggestion is to find some real estate industry surveys (via CBRE or others) and look for the MF cap rates in various cities/states/regions.

Of course want better close rate but when those numbers I would be ok with 

Joe its all about NPV  and rate of return for investors.. either way your going to take a pretty big hair cut out of your equity to do what your wondering about. 

Potentially lower down needed of 15% with better rate and 6% cap in IPC’s

Contractors, unless you have a working relationship with them, normally do not want you bouncing ideas off them.Understand what their hourly rate is, have a discussion with them that you are okay with paying them an hourly rate if they walk the property with you and provide you a scope of work along with an explanation of what you can/can't get away with in regards to improvements.ask them if you go with them, if they can credit you the amount that you paid.Once you develop a working relationship with a few contractors, you can bounce ideas off them and expect quality responses.I do not invest in New York.Best of luck. 

Quote from @Dinesh Nair: I am a Canadian investor with a US corporate entity- we closed on our first property and now working to find financing through a lender… however rates keep changing all the time.. is there a site to track rates ? 

Should I price the land 2 times above market value and offer a low interest rateORPrice the land at current market and use a very high rate?

I am curious: what are typical occupancy rates, and how do we measure and compare them?

Yea they would keep that in place and you'd get a second position mortgage for the rest at, well, higher than todays rates.

I’m having trouble determining the correct monthly rental rate for my property.