Most folks are charging 10% of the rental rate for monthly PM fees. 1 months rent for a leasing fee and couple hundred for a lease renewal.

With interest rates where they are, that could keep your cash flow strong while allowing you to scale. 

Since we pay taxes in arrears, the appeal process must move along quickly as they are payable in November (at a discounted rate).

Not really interest rate returns..

I just saw the webinar, and had to do a search on ratings before it was over.

well you have your own answer there are no lenders for entitlements  there are JV partners like me for entitlements but its not at traditional lending rates of course as its all risk capital.WI funded 3 entitlement deals in 2024 in Loudan  county VA to the tune of 7 figures in cash. since my client does not own it its unsecured ..

For example, instead of an initial 6-month lease at $1,200/month, and then re-renting it in the summer with a higher rental rate, you could market it as a 16-18 month lease term (again, great suggestion by Tim) at $1,600/month with a "1 Month of Free Rent" special which you could either divide evenly across just the first 4-6 months of the lease, or prorate over the entirety of their lease term.  

I explained to the landlord what my business plan was, and paid him a set rent amount each month (though slightly higher than market rate rent).

In my opinion, your occupancy rate and min night stay seem in the ballpark for planning purposes at this stage.

My goal is to add verbiage within the lease that will decrease any tiffs between tenants for the common spaces and how to set expectations and promote group effort with cleaning the common areas/shoveling snow/personal dishes/shared fridge/laundry/having guests and so forth.