It's a sensitive situation which is why it's being structured that way.

Then you technically have nothing to lose and the banks wants to still see you have skin in the game.

It's certainly more likely that you'll get a response than a yellow letter, but I bet you'll need some thick skin for the responses you'll get.  

The only thing i could ever figure is that water got trapped between slab and the plastic that goes down at construction and just slowely mitigates out, which might mean no water sensitive flooring for quite some time.

My experience: you need skin for this game.

I know it gets under people's skin to think they are paying for their tenants to go hog wild on heating and cooling, but in this area it seems fairly common for utilities to be linked together in a lot of properties I have seen.

I can tell you that I would never invest in a deal unless the lead investor had significant skin in the game.

If someone could point me to some beginners reading materials, and possibly recommend a strategy to get some skin in the game (i.e. how to get a JV money partner) I would be very grateful! 

I haven't come across a bank which will let with zero skin in the game.

@Garret Ball, there are a lot of ways to skin the cat in Real Estate.