We have located a good parcel of land at a fair price, only issue is it's currently zoned for residential and we are planning to develop a small, 8-unit apartment on it.

Of course, your "L" and his "L" probably stand for different names, but they are easy to remember nonetheless. 

Gotta say, the discussions here have been pretty informative, especially with folks like @Taylor L. and Andrew sharing their insights.Looking at your list, I’ve actually known invetors who recently ventured into Memphis and Greensboro.

Check the property: Make sure it’s in decent shape – no need to take on a major project right away.

There are several things to fear money loss on a bad investment, government involvement in RE, bad tenants that cost time and money, hidden maintenance issues and/or land issues and the list can go on.Today, I don't fear money loss or tenants,  the big unknown is how much the government wants to get involved in either taxes or landlord/tenant issues.

So they started doing the loans that everyone else turned down, ultra high risk development deals, second mortgages, land loans at ridiculously high LTV, loans where the borrower has none of his own capital invested, 85% of AFTER stabilized value loans.  

We landed on RentRedi.

@Ashley Wilson you do not need to explain or defend yourself.Over the years, I’ve contributed countless pages of valuable content here on BiggerPockets, breaking down in excruciating detail why over 90% of investors struggle to land deals (hint: it’s all about marketing).

This property is land only and is zoned commercial.

Is there anyone they partner with here to put on US MLS, eBay, FB, all the social media sites, craigslist, land watch, land.com, etc.Who is your target buyer?