It's a great way to keep your living expenses lower than normal as well as build equity & learn what it's like to own rental properties. 

I personally think a 8% to 10% cash on cash return is hard to achieve right now.It is easier if you are talking about overall return(Cash on cash plus appreciation).I normally aim for 4% cash on cash and 4% appreciation annually.Furthermore, using financing makes it harder to achieve higher cash on cash returns because in most markets, the interest rate is higher than the rate of return.Best of luck

Rates are normally higher.

We include my commission and negotiate as normal.

Lets face it, the higher the yield normally the higher the risk. 

Normally, unless there are specific building code restrictions, the amount of units allowed on a lot is determined by the Floor Area Ratio. 

The question here though, why are banks turning you down for a very normal loan product?

They'll want all the normal stuff; bank account info, LES for several months, hard credit check, etc.

I have confirmed what @Garrett Brown shared -- my best option is an SBA disaster loan with a lower than normal interest rate to pay off our mortgage and then I can also hope for / pursue with others a land buyback program for those of us who have floodplain property that FEMA won't reinsure.

It's going to be a good long while before things get back to normal around here.