My background is in Tech/VC and I have access to offshore/outsourced development.

If someone tells me that they do 10/hr, I would say to myself “how much time and material do i need to spend again if i take this gamble”. heh

If you decide to proceed anyway, you are gambling and not investing. 

It's a gamble, but with SD's history I'm willing to take that gamble and invest in long term rentals that 15 years from now will provide me a huge equity and possibly some positive cash flow by that point due to higher rents.In the end, it all comes down to your own individual investments goals and risk aversion to REI.Food for thought...hope it helps.

It's simple risk/reward economies of scale that the big guys will be willing to gamble their 100K at lower rates/points. 

That is, they were making gazillions with a simple bet on the property market and it did not pay off in the end - maybe they just got greedy but it was not their money they were gambling with - it belonged to the community, the people.

:D Well, I guess I'm not actually coming to see you, but I will be in the same town.Thank you, Are you coming to Las Vegas for business or for gambling/ I have a friend who finds you the best day to gamble, she is really good!

Having such a system can reduce some of the risks and make it less of a gambling venture.  4.

At some point he realized that he was out gunned  by off shore investors infiltrating New York with even more assets and willing to pay more.

Things may change to make these requirements easier, but I would not gamble on that.So then you are left with cash buyers or high down payment buyers....those tend to be investors, who typically don't like condos....and then you still run into the problem of financing for owner occupants.If this is your first deal I applaud you for thinking outside the box.