As someone who has been very successful as a professional poker player and somewhat successful as an professional investor, I actually like the question you ask in your first sentence.

All the players have pre-existing business relationships.

You are, of course, competing against every other lease/option in the areas you are in, and you aren't as familiar with the market as your competition is since you are remote.

They, association board, claim that there are very few players who use the court and that this was verified by a recent owner's survey.

It puts the competence of the originator in question to a certain degree.The information the broker gave you is not completely accurate.

It is shelter...You will be housing people and filling a societal need and will be rewarded if you do it well and can compete and sustain the operation long term.

I am also an active stock investor and High Stakes poker player.

Amazing to hear all that's going on and perspective from many players in the space, both with landlords and condo developers.There's a ton of rental units (18,000+) that are coming onto the Brooklyn market over the next twelve months.

This is good since I won't send them back the contract (and more importantly any money) if there is big issue up front.Any competent attorney should have title run easily in that time frame.

In my area @Ned Carey is what I would consider one of the main "players" in this market (i.e., very experienced and knowledgeable).