Every investment loan I've ever seen makes you sign quite a few docs at closing stating that you will NOT occupy the property. 

This would generally bode well for surrounding property owners as well.One other thing I would also try to scope out in the new building's planning docs would be whether or not they are including any retail/commercial space in addition to the residential apartments. 

They mention termites, signs of water proofing in basement (we didn't waterproof), pluming and electrical repairs not disclosed, not disclosing a new roof, and they were suing for 150K on a 165K house...The truth of it is we didn't know of any leaks in the plumbing or the roof.

I would just add that we do a full attorney review of LLC docs prior to closing loans and the vast majority still have issues that need to be fixed/amended (albeit this is a short easy process typically). 

Unfortunately inspectors can’t always catch those unless there are multiple signs pointing to some kind of leak or water intrusion throughout a home. 

o Full doc (pay stubs, taxes, personal DTI) or light doc (asset-based, DSCR)?

(You'd want an attorney to look the docs over but you wouldn't spend as much as we did as most of the attorney work was loan-related.)Of course you will also want to have insurance in place and that is often paid as a closing cost.Somewhat of a wild card are prorations.

Security deposit amountYou can find plenty of examples by searching for "tenant estoppel certificate doc" or exchanging "doc" with "pdf" for more options.Here is an example and explanation: Sample EstoppelSome have a lot of legal jargon but this document does not need to be so detailed.

On a project this size, all those legal docs probably won't make financial sense.So, how would you feel about having an active partner, one who can disagree with you and has a say in the decision making?

If you are getting a loan from one entity, you do not really need to be discussing it with a syndication attorney but any loan docs and agreements you should have an attorney review.The people who would need the attorney are the people forming the LLC as they are each pooling funds and would need to determine who is in control of the entity, what if someone wants out of that entity etc.