I also had a passive loss for the rental property in 2017.

I am now in a contract position as 1099 and have the option to fund my own Solo 401k up to 55k, which is amazingly awesome compared to most employers just providing the individual limit. 

on the area just going for the size of property you want you will be limited to our urban core. 

I would say stop wasting your time chasing those county programs which are turned on and off like a water faucet and concentrate on making money with buyers who have 3% to put down.Or, sell them on a 100% USDA loan and get them to move out of the city limits, buy more house for the money and their kids can have a pony!  

The ground lease will usually spell out site improvements the tenant wants and connections.Best thing usually is to connect with a local commercial attorney familiar with development to get your questions answered.You try to limit up front costs but even then you can spend tens of thousands on some deals that do not work.  

Outside meeting with a few buddies who own rentals to pick their brain on their process, my knowledge is pretty limited. 

Jake,You may want to inquire with the Association to see what other losses have occurred in the past 5 years. 

You will also want to start reaching out to contractors however, this may be something to tackle when you have a sense of what you want built and what your limitations are.

I have a lender wanting to offset his earnings with us with some losses in other investments he made.

At that point, I put the house on the market and cut my losses.