My markup is always lower than the original lender's because I don't spend money advertising during the Super Bowl, my president doesn't have a corporate jet, and we don't have layers of management we need to pay.

From day one I treated my involvement in real estate as a real business.This means, I had an advertising budget, a lead generating and follow up process, a back end process and money source and above all an experienced mentor.  

The date you are able to take depreciation is when the property is ready for renting (i.e. advertising for rent or obtaining a certificate of occupancy).

Is this advertising?

Can you then advertise the land to resell to another buyer (cash) for $120k and then pay off the original seller, and pocket the $20k?

Utilizing Reg D 506 C is the only way to legally use “General solicitation and advertising” in an offering exemption from registration.  

How do you advertise your vacant units?

I spent a decade in advertising, before founding and running a custom wood shop for another decade, so 'm pretty good at the self-promotion.I agree with you that the more gorilla approach would be most effective and that's actually what i've been doing – calling RE agents in my service area with active listings, introducing myself to property managers and leasing agents...To answer your question, I will have to handle the work myself for 6-12 months to build out the SOPs and field service management systems, but I have a lot of relationships for those looking to "do the work".I'll check out the meet up and would love to grab a cup of coffee, I'll shoot you an email.

Getting connected with a campus organization to advertise your rental may be a good idea.

Kind of a advertisement and asking for help on how to take your business from you.What do you bring to the table?