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.

You are required to disclose that debt, and it will be a fairly easy catch for an underwriter, even if it's not on your credit report. 

You could go either route but don't mix the two in concept as one is a mule and the other is a horse.And, the requirement that properties be listed for sale by a bank is a bank regulatory issue having nothing to do with the NAR, it ensures that the property is held for sale in a public market at its assumed fair market value.

You've probably heard of big Landlords losing property, but only because they were flagrantly violating Fair Housing, running a slum, or otherwise egregiously violating the law.

Not sure if anyone is aware of this, but Marco's partner and CFO, Ronald Fossum, was charged with fraud by the SEC fairly recently and barred from participating in any type of similar activity.

My builder friend can build a fairly generic townhome for about $250k/door.  

A good indicator of this would be analyzing the HUD Fair Market Rents year over year.

I'm ok with gambling on it.

I went to school in Michigan and worked in GR for several years, so I'm fairly familiar with the areas, but not as an investor.

Originally posted by @Sidney Wilson:I understand that it is sometimes easier to have a broker do the work to find a lender, but the 1% + I always paid to brokers was a fairly significant cost.