I have higher fees with HOA but overall, I believe I do better.

Some people look at PM fees as “wasted” or something they could do themselves.

You also mentioned meters, do you have to separate meters, get approval from the city and pull permits?

It may be worth having an experienced professional helping you and you could always try to get the seller to pay your agent’s fees.

If you can pull it out super nice, I think it is a huge amenity that other people can't copy.

Why don't you pull out the equity and use that cash?

You can expect that you will be required to build roads, sidewalks, storm water control, utility taps, street lights, street trees as well as recreation fees as part of the development process. 

For me just too much work.. as I stated its a specialty niche.. plus putting the deals together can run 100 to 250k in consultant fees up front. 

I will definitely try to bring in as much money as possible but I don't want to wait forever to pull the trigger.

The best strategy I seem to have deployed so far was to contact all my current tenants and let them know I’d give them a cash referral fee of $250 for anyone they recommend to me that goes through the vetting process and successfully moves in.