As more investment money was putting into high technology that created a job boom in Social Media, self driving automobile development sectors.

The lesson you learned is ask all the questions of all the right people before you develop any real interest in a property. 

I'm in the process of developing my business plan for the purpose of finding and acquiring buy and hold single family (possibly multi family), for the purposes of building a passive income stream in and around Houston, TX.  

Also can a contract be drawn between a development firm and bird dog?

Rural Development loan with a 15 day extension if needed.  

It is much like my job as a web developer.  

I personally know of one where the sole purpose of it is to hold undeveloped land -- no restrictions on the use of the property; the HOA is there to make sure that certain land is never developed. 

So, you're competing against "the world" at that point.You're actually better off developing ways to find properties which aren't listed yet - pre-foreclosures, probates, divorce, bankruptcy, incarcerations, etc.My $0.02 ...David J Dachtera"Success is not a destination.

Whats to stop a developer/sponsor from selling the property to himself or another entity controlled by him, at a loss or at break even price?

As for the professional service fees, those appear to be in line with what our development side pays for the design fees of a project.