Does anyone have any experience with receiving any grant funding, whether be it government or private sector?

If you don’t, the government will take a cut of what he could have h tax free.

Local government websites and U.S.

Doing that will give you credibility without having experience, especially if you team up with experienced people.

My real estate agent there says he isn’t concerned with the permit situation in Rome and he invests there himself and manages quite a few of them for other clients as well but I’m not as confident in the government there as he is. 

If that's the case, HOAs are governed by F.S. 720; COAs by F.S. 718. 

Unless the government pays for it , it cant be done .

State Laws and Requirements Local Laws: Real estate is generally governed by the laws of the state where the property is located.

I did a YouTube video of it as well and was actually surprised how easy it was to complete compared to a typical government form

At some point, I hope the government comes to their senses.