I have a couple partners one of which owns land.  Can we build a fourplex on it then get conventional financing?  I think we will have some equity build in after the build and I want to use it for at least part of the...

They are discussing pre approved financing, package deals, fix and flip, and even development potential ! 

One landlord I know who keeps the water bill in his name has developed his own system that trains the tenant on how to read the water meter, and to take the reading to compute how much to include with the rent for the water bill; it gets close enough so that he has not fronted the water payment for a tenant who decides to skip town.If you have the tenant get the water bill where unpaid water bills become a lien, you will want to have some way of tracking that the tenant is paying the bill.

I'll also look for development and competition. 

Most experts also feel that if you turn a shovel after entitlements that involves you creating inventory and turns you into a developer. 

Development - Construction Forum  Strategies is where you will find all the various niches. 

It can be a challenge when searching for a 203k consultant, a contractor, and a lender that have 203k experience and a good agent can guide you through this.If you can, have the contractor and the 203k consultant walk the house together so they can develop a report with each other if they do not already have one.

While I do think that REITS sound ideal in most respects, it doesn't seem to be something we can creatively finance using BAH and TSP loans (same for notes).

Yes, it's a large sum, but there was a previous all cash offer on the property and Kevin, while he is using a Mortgage, offered a higher Purchase Price and a higher amount for Earnest Money to be deposited on Contract.The Check for the Earnest Money on Contract was made out to the Seller's Attorney Mike as Escrowee, so I am assuming that the Earnest Money had to be deposited into the Escrow of the Seller's Attorney.Kevin then Applied for a Mortgage at a well known Bank.Title was completed and an Appraisal was ordered.Sometime around mid-June 2017, a few weeks later, the Seller's Step-Sister filed a Lien of Rescission to stop the Sale.When the Appraisal came back, the Lien of Rescission was discovered, the Mortgage Bank added the Lien as a condition to clear for closing.A Civil Case was filed against the Seller and the Case was suppose to take place around December 1st.Buyer's Attorney and Seller's Attorney agreed to postpone the original closing from 45 days after signing the Contract on June 13th to December 1st day, documented in email.The Case was then postponed to January 29th, 2018.Along the way, the Buyer's Attorney got sick and developed ALS.When January 29th, 2018 came, the Seller's Civil Case was again postponed to April 1st, 2018.The Mortgage Bank issued a statement that the Mortgage Contingency was no longer valid and has expired.Kevin then changed Attorneys.

CC is insane, I was recently browsing rentals and a renovated 1bdrm with amenities was around $2,500 in one of the large developments.