In my day job, I am a corporate and securities lawyer and I frequently help real estate developers structure the legal entities they utilize for the investments and also comply with federal and state securities laws in connection with bringing on investors.  

I have been investing for about a year now and have developed a criteria and spreadsheet that works for me when analyzing deals.

Started in the construction side of things developing large commercial projects back in 2009.

So talking to them face to face shows them you are serious and you can develop a relationship with them as well as finding out exactly what they want.

Once the developer pays operating expenses and the senior debt payment all income must go to pay the fixed coupon of the mezzanine debt.

There is a good meetup I attend sometimes on Madison and 29th, next one is October 19th, here is the link: http://www.meetup.com/Multi-family-Apartment-Developer-Real-Estate-Investing/events/226004935/.  

Originally posted by @Sean OReilly:...can be good opportunities for me to go in, lower rent and recover utility costs  My first impression is that this will be a break-even (- lower rent, + utility billings), and that you will not get paid for your development and implementation costs. 

Due to the neighborhood never being finished by the developer, the area in general, and my 1 hour+ nightly commute, we were just ready to take the loss and move on.  

I've heard warnings against purchasing near campus due to the large number of student housing developments of late.

I saw how decapitated the real estate was I saw i could make money and also help the community in a big way. the end goal is to develop in Baltimore.