You can chase this guy down, sue him for every penny, then never collect a dime of it because he works for cash, never stays in one place, etc.

The second thing that needs to be done is to determine if the use you want to develop can be permitted and if so, define the process that gets it entitled along with the time and cost associated with getting it to a shovel-ready project.If development truly interests you, I strongly suggest that you learn the nomenclature (language) of CRE and ground-up development along with its metrics (measurements of performance) before you spend much time or money chasing a site down.  

Never hurts to start with where you bank (unless it's one of those credit unions you mentioned having been unsuccessful with), and then compare rates and terms with a big national bank like a Chase or US. 

Do you have the time to handle calls, chase payments, update leases, set up management software, etc?

As a former shiny object chasing serial entrepreneur myself, I've learned that the best investment results come from hyper focus.

Neglecting my credit score pursuits, I could chase down paying my taxes first, then roll my debts onto a HELOC with less friendly terms. 

A few tips, when dealing with tenants, bake the utilities in the rent, its easier than chasing down $31.74 here and $122.14 there, it will make your life much easier.

@Steven RosenfeldA lot of great advice from great people here so it’s difficult to add more value but I can offer a different angle.If you think that the bubblicious conditions are due to factors like to much cheap credit that won’t be that cheap anytime soon, too many investors switching to STRs as LTRs don’t work, too many investors chasing too little inventory and an unusually high number of Americans staying in the country because of international Covid restrictions that are being removed, you can always invest overseas.

Moreover, a paid-in-full property is always a nice target for an ambulance-chasing lawyer.By doing a cash-out refi and buying another property, you should be able to increase your combined cash flow, get your Equity working harder for you, and make your property less attractive for a lawsuit.I would go this route.

Working with you as an investor isn't this magical carrot that all of these agents are chasing.