I am still a bit of a newbie investor but do feel like I can add value to a project through being a licensed realtor, current business ownership experience (5 years owning an insurance brokerage), and having some capital to invest.

I see so many room illegal additions/conversions where the homeowner spends a lot of money on the project, but when they sell the appraiser assigns it no value because the square footage is unpermitted.

@Raymond Morris what are the projected rents per unit and what’s your estimated total costs after repairs/upgrades?

I have also seen this with smaller projects.

Long-term looking for a portfolio lender and easy refinancing for BRRRR projects.

Also, if you know that you'll be done with the project in 6 months for example, you'd be paying half of the cost in interest making the numbers relatively close to going conventional. 

Are there guidelines on wether or not this would be a good market for such a project?

See if they are using actuals or projections (actuals = reality, projections = fantasy. 

Therefore, it is still very beneficial from a tax perspective to invest in an OZ fund for that reason alone, assuming of course the OZ project makes a decent IRR over the 10 year required hold period.  

Find a good contractor and partner with them or just use them on your projects.