I think if you had to put in some sort of protection or guarantee to the homeowner that events like this would not happen, it would definitely help to ease their mind.

In a partnership (an llc or an s-corp type of setup) you'll likely be looking at a commercial loan, which is more flexible in my opinion and more focused on the asset than the borrower, but still factors in your personal ability to guarantee the loan.  

A lot can happen to any development especially a government one before it gets significant work done to be at the point of guaranteed completion. 

No guarantee it will work, but it can at least help re-ground the seller's expectations. 

Secondly, having done multiple rehabs on my properties I can almost guarantee that you will go over budget and over timeline early in your REI journey.  

@Ian SinclairYou can finance investment property in your retirement account but since IRS rules prohibit personal guarantee you can't use conventional financing, you must use non-recourse loan.

I can pretty much guarantee it was thrown in the trash by someone (Most likely the owner/bank) somewhere down the line. 

There are NO GUARANTEES with investments at all.

To guarantee that I would never get another job, I sued for wrongful dismissal and won.

Now, if I knew I had a guaranteed income of $200k year at my regular job, then I'd definitely take a $6k hit/yr and bet on LA long term appreciation.