You put a 3.5% down payment on a house that goes up 7% in 12 months you just made a 200% return that didn't take any large amount of skill or time.

Multifamily offers steady income, scalability, and tax advantages, though it requires more upfront capital and management skills.

You’ll come out stronger, and this tough experience will only sharpen your skills as a landlord.Cheers,Rene I completely understand your frustration—situations like these can be incredibly challenging, both financially and emotionally.

Learn a valuable skill set that will allow you to make more money, therefore have more financial flexibility.

After that, I was confident we could clearly show the positives of the project to the board.I don't have a great answer on displaying a housing shortage for your area.

Develop those skills. 

But housing starts are anemic right now, so within 2 or 3 years we’ll have a major shortage in housing again.

but I suspect homesites will drive the best values.. no one wants logged over sites for building ( generally speaking)  it works here in the Northwest because of the incredible shortage of buildable land. but in other areas not so much

A lot has happened since starting, between material shortages in SWFL for a while, a massive hurricane, a period of power outage, damages to various parts of the city (and major damages to surrounding cities), high demand in labor/resources, a transformation in permitting systems, and a boom in construction in general. 

I did have a good job, but more importantly my parents knew I had the skills to make the deal happen.