If you loss with grace and you accept it, then you accept that the competition outworked you, worked smarter than you, was hungrier than you, had more passion than you, has stronger purpose than you.  

Once you are able to find a site that is already zoned for multi-family- because rezoning to multi-family is very difficult- and tie up the site with an earnest money deposit, you've then got to engage professionals for: surveying, land planning, civil engineering, geotechnical, environmental, architectural, MEP design services.  

i'll help @Steve Vaughan with thatLease options don't work well if the house does not appraise for the value of the contractSo if your exercise price is 100,000 and the house appraises for 90,000 at the time the tenant buyer applies for the mortgageIf the tenant buyer puts up $5000 and the house appraises for $90,000, buyers still need to pony up 10,000 to cover the differenceI have tied the exercise sales price to an "either or price" either at new appraisal or at a fixed price whichever is higher

And I have also read some people will keep a max of 3-5 properties (depends on door #) per LLC, for just this reason, to limit exposure.I understand if you are personally tied to each property via loans, etc. then it makes no difference because you're already exposed.

The market in the area should also be stronger today. 

We would be looking outside the mediation/arbitration.we are interested in  practical experience, in a general partnership, as how to move forward when both partners have different ideas.ei; tie breaker....Thank you in advance!

@Chris Piper, so in short, your strategy is: find sucker-Sellers to let YOU tie up their property for a REFUNDABLE deposit, then find sucker-Buyers who'll give you NON-refundable deposits?...

But I believe that if I went to A&M I could build a better network and attend a stronger school.

@Ned Carey - I tried to tie you into the above response, but I guess it was too long by the time I got to that... here's acknowledging your approach to attracting help - I liked it!

I'm not a fan of BOOM/BUST state investing because I am looking to invest for CASH FLOW, not appreciation and speculation, which is why I'm looking to invest OOS in areas that have signs of emerging markets through growth, jobs, stronger economy, etc.