Work a way to get it under contract without having to put up money (maybe JV with the land owner) then approach firms like contractos who may have the money to entitle it and you can exchange them building it to take an equity share. 

believe it or not I'm a newbie on my second house and I would never sell a house before it is completed unless someone approached me with a good offer.

What are your thought son this approach and could I structure this campaign in another way for better results?

Finally, if bid's are competitive on properties with no mortgage--is there value in approaching an owner to close immediately prior to sale?

All meters are pulled and the city has told me that the building has to be brought completely up to code and have a fire suppression system installed.

Hello all,I'm needing some advice on how I could possibly approach a property I own.

I admit I have no idea but of course it is getting heavy play locally in the media rotation as the 100 year anniversary approaches.

Now, when people are offering ideas/advice, instead of saying you can't or you don't know how... approach these things from an "I'd like to learn about that", "That sounds like something I could do", or things like that. 

I feel those who get lost in analysis paralysis would benefit from my approach.

From this you can see that debt free properties of any significant value are probably earning no real return since the value of your equity is eating all the income.This is a ultra conservative approach to real estate investing that in reality earns very low ROI.