The markets you are looking at - are you local to those markets? 

I'm not local to the area, and am not familiar with operating expenses for these types of projects. 

Quote from @Stuart Udis: The Philadelphia Housing Authority (PHA) recently acquired a 360 unit 12 story multi-family building for $24M and  a local news outlet  reported on the building.  

I don't have any specific contacts, but I do see several people posting on a few STR facebook groups local to Orlando, you might try there.

Am I not allowed to use the SAFMR rate and MUST use the local comps instead?

Just be sure to check the local regulations before diving in.

A $200,000 duplex might have identical rents in municipality “A” and municipality “B” but the property tax rates will vary, local regulations will dictate licensing requirements, labor rates will vary & the particular location will dictate insurance premiums since insurance carriers will weigh local replacement costs and whether the municipality is viewed as being a “plaintiff friendly” in arriving at insurance premiums.Better situated assets will attract better tenants.

There are also several local meetups for investors so it's easy to get involved. 

Two local banks made offers 18 months ago - one was at 4% with 0 points, the other at 4.25% with one point.  

However neither person is local , they both have filled out applications and seem to check out , but both have "Not for Real ID" IDs which seems like a red flag to me.