He has acquired the land, gotten the permitting, has construction financing lined up but needs ~20% cash equity / home.I know very little about his particular real estate market, and I've never built anything myself. 

Markets depict appreciation and rent growth into market price.  

Those brands are just great marketing companies, not necessary good windows.

In my market (lehigh valley PA) I can get this done for around 5k or less including the units, materials and labor.

Multifamily properties, like duplexes, can be particularly appealing because they allow you to live in one unit and rent out the other, which helps with covering the mortgage while also generating income.Another option is to invest out-of-state in markets where property prices are more reasonable but still offer great cash flow.

Marketing?

Looking for ideas on how I should think about structuring such an arrangement.Reventure has suggested that Connecticut is the best market in the country for investing in flips.

I currently have 130 units going through entitlements and have 150 more in design. 

Go to Etsy and search for "rental property tracker," and you will find hundreds of nice spreadsheets to track 10-20 rentals, usually for under $10.Software has extremely helpful features like online payments, marketing syndication (click a button, and your property is advertised on multiple sites), electronic document review/signing, maintenance tracking, and owner reports.

what are your favorite tools to discover and compare real estate markets?