I don't know how active you are in the forums but the more you are the more you start to recognize who the seasoned players are.

Many of the larger players in saturated markets like Miami, Atlanta, Memphis, Nashville are now looking to move in to the Birmingham market.

There are 3 main players: Vanderbilt, 21st Mortgage & Greentree.

If you understand the players and how everyone fits together (great book on this is The Real Estate Game, by William Poorvu) - you'll negotiate from a strong position of power.The technical ways you raise money has been discussed above.  

Since the banks are in the pockets of most of the Washington power players, the CC bill was designed to go into effect one year after passing (or so).What did they think would happen?

Other players are the National Ground Intelligence Center that brings with it several defense/intelligence companies.

By browsing the listing of the bigger student rental players in the area I have seen buildings split into as many as 10 units (mostly studios and two BR apts).

Things are unticking currently, in part due to a lot of weaker players getting out, including "rental arbitragers" (full disclosure I have 21 rental arbitrage in my portfolio but I don't advocate the model). 

There are many other players in the industry, yet Buildium, Appfolio, and RentManager continue to win the hearts of PMs everywhere, and for 20-30 tenants across fewer units I'd stick with the big B

unless your buyer is  America homes for rent.. or one of the big players..