Think of it like planting two trees instead of one...they might not bear a ton of fruit right away, but over time, you'll have a richer harvest.

Next having a listing agreement actually protects a fiduciary that you may see benifit in having.

If piti is $1100 and rents range from $1000 to $1200, conservative underwriting would use the lower of the rent range, we have $1100 rent - $1000 PITI - $120 PM  - $50 (vacancy) - $300 maintenance/cap ex - $50 misc (tax man, asset protection, book keeping, utilities that are not tenant responsibility such as for a slab leak, etc) is about negative $420/month. 

The sponsors’ goals included “protecting naturally occurring affordable housing” from teardowns, decreasing “gentrification” and lowering property taxes for homeowners.

But now I need to make another post to protect other lenders etc.

It would also be advisable to discuss this with an SEC attorney for both personal protection, and hopefully the sponsors are doing the same to make sure they aren't getting in trouble.The conservative answer is: be a broker-dealer and you are in the clear.  

.- Sectio 8 also requires taxes be current.3) Insurance: we require an owner to add us to their policy for liability protection.- Have discovered owners with lapsed ploicies they thought previous PMC was handling.- Also found terrible policies that owners had, that they didn't understand.4) Utilities: We check that all utilities are properly set up and cofirm or enroll in any Auto-Transfer of Service programs to avoid no heat during winter leading to frozen pipes.- Dealing with a very upset new owner client right now that previous PMC didn't handle the water account properly.

Because you have to keep the same taxpayer as owner from the relinquished property to the replacement property I'd worry that the legal protection you'd want for a development TIC won't be there.DSTs have high fee but probably are the best path forward for someone who wants to be fully passive and avoid legal risk.

When you buy,how do you protect your investment, other than the formal agreement? 

That should attract a savvy renter that performs well because they want to protect their credit or the large deposit.