@Ken - I work with a large mortgage company and we do most loans with our own funds ..we do have access to outside lenders and loan programs for the more unique scenarios ...with rates being higher over the past few years - the current challenge is more  because borrowers are not able to qualify  for loan amounts that they could  qualify for easily 1  or 2 yrs  ago

And is walking into a turnkey ready to rock building, the seller (whom I am presuming is now broke, but that may not be the case) even left the tables and chairs behind, all ready to have plates full of unethical inorganic genetically modified red meat dipped in butter placed on them. 

Even with no/low money down options, I suggest having ample reserves in case you need to come to the table with cash for some reason. 

Are they simply home improvement material hobbyists because they left money on the table?

if a PM has a % on repairs or rehabs, higher or lower or even doesn’t have (but its vendor recognize a 10% under the table) their interest will go thru bringing and finding repairs to do.If PM will be in charge of the finance and keep the budget aligned, it wouldn’t be the one who handles/hire/have interets in any expenditures.

The syndication market exploded during a very unique time period that ended about 2 years ago.

I would suggest you save up as much as you can while you are doing your homework to be able to bring to the table when you find a deal that you want. 

Purchase price: $5,000,000 APR CAPITAL MORTGAGE private lending offers unique advantages, and provides loans for Real Estate Investors.

It has much lower interest rates than a HELOC and comes with some additional unique benefits.

As for the fee of pulling permits, here is a permit valuation table for LA for reference.http://ladbs.org/LADBSWeb/LADBS_Forms/PlanCheck/bldg_permit_valuation_table.pdf