Personally I want to see a sponsor that has gone through at least one full real estate cycle with little to no money lost, uses conservative leverage and projections, put significant skin in the game and has competitive/reasonable fees and splits.The thing is that the majority of these really experienced sponsors have built up very enthusiastic investor bases over time, so they are generally not going to crowdfunding sites (where they would have to pay an extra fee) or spending time on forums.

Lansing and Okemos but the market is super competitive right now in this area in general for buyers.

@Matthew Lewis Flippers have had great success in 55+ and it tends to be very competitive market in my area.

Make sure the image clearly communicates or perhaps choose another one.As some others have noted, the tone is dark and heavy which isn't as consumer-friendly as it could be. 

It naturally makes it less competitive.

You could technically do whatever you want, but you would want to look at the market and competition to see what the norm is at least.

There is so much competition in that market right now.

They might be good markets, but then I lose the competitive advantage of knowing the areas as I rarely left the city. 

I found it through Zillow and negotiated it over a holiday weekend because I knew it’d be less competitive.

Would have been a competitive bidding war no doubt.