This nonsense about paying full price off the MLS and using borrowed money to cover the closing costs is very alarming.You haven't said that, but a popular guru has and he has sold a lot of "memberships" in the process.

I ended up buying their one year education/membership package thing.

Generally, lenders are going to do the rent calculation based on a long term rental either based on the actual rent on the lease or the projected rent from an appraiser's rent survey. 

If it were real estate and not membership shares in an LLC I think the related party issue might be an issue. 

Ordering a full topographical survey of the property (which will be required for future development and application processes anyway) will give you the ability to show engineering/design groups what you have, and they can give thoughts and bids leading to a site plan. 

I think BiggerPockets Pro membership could be well worth your time if you only have a few spare hours a week.

They rate good as long as you pay and renew every year for $600 that's bribery to  me, ratings don't mean anything it's not based on real data only membership payments. 

I found value in it, so I have renewed my membership each year, but the students definitely got more aggressive in the underwriting the last few years and now those deals are paying the price.

Although we weren’t changing the exterior, we were asked to provide a survey of our property, elevation drawings, stamped FAR calculations, and sat in front of the city councils to obtain an approval (the special permit).

It is a RE course in which you eventually pay 25k for gold membership and ultimate access.