•What are your opinions on this and why?

@Steven Catudal, In my opinion 100% you and 0% partner.

@Christopher Smith there are many...but in my opinion really only three companies out there that offer the ability to 721 into a large and diversified REIT that i'd feel comfortable with. 

In one of our development projects, the City staff asked us to remove 40 units from our concept plan.This wasn’t requested by the City Commission at a formal hearing, it was the opinion of the staff.Our original concept already proposed fewer units than the current zoning would have allowed.Here’s what erasing 40 units means:- 40 fewer homes for buyers- Over $1M in lost profit for our team- Fewer tax dollars and impact fees that could’ve benefited the City’s infrastructure & servicesWe gotta get betterEveryone wants more affordable housing, but not everyone wants to do what it takes to achieve it

Hoping to get some opinions on what I should be doing differently.

. :)And you're entitled to your opinion. 

The thread was intended to seek guidance on completing the deal, and even If I disagree with opinions I understand it doesn't make either side more or less valid.

Even if you haven't been in this kind of setup before, I am curious to hear your opinion. 

I am considering getting into this space (looking at some courses), but worried that its too late, and that deep local market knowledge/understanding of buyers/connection with developers etc is required to make this work, which only incumbent/long term investors will have and would be hard for a new entrant starting from scratch to catch-up...is my hypothesis valid in your opinion ?

My opinion on this is split between two answers:1) invest in your backyard.