One tip is closely track your interactions with any potential investor, but in any circumstance when you enter into the syndication/private investor arena you need to be familiar with the rules so that you do not blow an exemption or break the law.

The rules are all different.

There had been a 7 day rule that was going to limit rentals to one reservation every seven days and she (assistant director of planning) confirmed it had been removed from the proposal.

The demo cost you should consider part of your our investment / improvement cost.  

If there're things to improve upon that will take the value up, for instance, roof, windows, kitchens, then consider improving.

Make sure you follow the DNC rules and scrub your list.

Dont use excuses to stop you from moving forward, simply find a way to make it possible. my intent wasn't to throw up roadblocks, just setting expectations. the expectation of banks is usually for the borrower to have skin in the game, this is not a hard and fast rule, but one that shouldn't be expected to overcome.

They will argue that you only improved the property $10,000 so the value went up $10,000.

now focus on finding the next deal.There's more than $$$ to improve:1) how can I reduce my costs2) how can I do it in less time (holding costs,early start planning etc)3) how can I make it sell quicker (staging etc)so there, more things to think about besides felling bad for 5k.

From your description you are not making any improvements to the land and have no plans to, just hoping the value goes up over time.