I am working on a mock real estate development project submission, and I am looking for some general rules of thumb on how best to estimate the following:1.  

I am trying to use my real estate ventures to fund shipping container projects.

Now my question is, would you recommend such a large rehab project for a first time buyer/investor?

Even after renovation, the income you're projecting isn't enough to justify the price.

So, you may see higher COC returns than that 2%, you are projecting.

Now that I have been in business for 8 months, Wells Fargo has offered me a 100k card, but I am politely bowing out away from that one.Good luck!

I managed the rentals myself up until early this year when I hired a property management firm in order to get some free time back, have some backup so I can go on vacations again,  and in response to the hostile political environment towards landlords in seattle.My long term plan with REI is to get to a large enough door count such that with sufficient equity the net cash flow is enough to live on comfortably  (which I would define as matching my current gross software engineer's salary).    

Also willing to help out in projects as long as it's not climbing a roof :)

Raising money isn’t a do-it-yourself project, you need the advice and guidance of legal counsel that specializes in securities law.

Doing a syndication is expensive for the first round, that's why it's nice to have a few people you trust to form the LLC with you, and you can try out the process of raising money and meeting investor demands.If you don't have that kind of time, then I recommend investing in someone else's project.