We will definitely get a lawyer involved if we want to pursue this.

We have been saving up and are looking to invest some money into a property that we could either fix up and flip for a profit or to rent out to a family.

With a family transaction the family dynamics come into play.Even if you agree on a price, if it turns out that you sell them five or ten years from now for a nice profit, is someone going to think you own them a piece of that? 

When verifying the income do you want the APOD or Profit and Loss statement?

The next lender bought tape will sell to another bank for profit.

Sometimes you need to go out & take what you want to make a profit in this industry.It's also important to note that another reason for the mass emails is that about 1/3 of the follow up questions that are asked are already answered in the original email offering!

If they truly are having a not-for profit get together (like a baby shower) guests will be invited via private means. 

If you have this chick in your mix, profitability is inevitable.

There is no reason for them to profit from the situation.

If they're not, it's a long and involved (and expensive) process.Most often, the larger parcels will be developed into graded lots by one of the regional development companies, then sold to regional builders to construct and sell the finished homes (and potential commercial components).Smaller developers (like myself) can take on the smaller parcels (say, 10's of acres) that are too small for the regional companies to touch - there's an opportunity for your client to partner there and capture more of the profit stack if s/he's interested.Regardless, there's plenty of brokers who work in the space and broker between land owners and developers for owners who aren't familiar with the business.