You have to follow the laws, but it's a lot more sanitary to dispose of food waste using the garbage disposal.Stench + (disease carrying) flies around the complex.

They only look at their back of the napkin calculations of what they pay a PMC, assuming it's 100% profit, because they NEVER consider what expenses a PMC has.Since you like to crunch numbers, why don't you calculate how much it would cost for YOU to hire people to do the following:Inspect a property to make sure it's ready to marketTake marketing picsPublish and refresh for rent adsTake all the phone calls from adsSchedule showingsChase applications, process & screenGet deposits and sign leasesCollect rents, chase delinquencies & evictionsHandle maintenance requests, which are never handled fast enough for tenants, or cheap enough for ownersChase tenants for lease renewalsCoordinate MoveOuts, damage charges against security depositsGet RentReady bids to owner's satisfactionFollow up with maintenance to make sure done on time and done rightStart the cycle all over againProvide accounting services for all of the above, including owner reports and payments, annual 1099's, etc.Don't forget to factor in payroll taxes, employee benefits, company office space cost, company insurance, equipment, phones, etc.Once you do all that, you'll quickly find that PMC's are NOT making more than owners.FYI - this is why investors should always factor in 10% PMC Fees, 10% Vacancy and 10% Maintenance when running numbers on a potential rental purchase.

I've always been told appraisers are supposed to be looking for the (3) S's - Safe, sanitary, and secure. 

That will determine what you can actually build on site to reach density... and then consider if the cost of underground parking will be worth the cost to add the units.Then do some very rough napkin math, Determine your footprint and how many floors you can do within the height restriction of the zoning. = Total sq ft.Then determine your usable sq ft. from the total sq ft. calculation, ideally you want to aim around 74% usable space.

But Sadly, In all this property prices have gone up insanely leaving common buyer in lurch.To my question;Mainly, trying to understand; what type of numbers matter a lot for back of the napkin proforma when as a developer you evaluate any plot which is brought to your attention.

Since you're buying near a lake in my mind it may be semi-remote, do you know if City/Private sanitary sewer lines are on the street?

Keep in mind that the 1%/2% rules are NOT rules at all, merely guidelines intended to be quick "back of the napkin" calculations.

(This can also affect the depth of your sanitary sewer and depending on the answer to #2, could require the development to have a lift station)4.

Anyone have a back of the napkin, rough guess on construction costs?  

And then there is always this basic metric, if you want to come up with a ballpark:  $10/ft for light renovation, $20/ft for medium renovation, and $30/ft for heavy renovation - not a totally precise way of figuring the repair amount, but a good back-of-the-napkin method.