I am looking at a piece of land that has the potential to be turned into conservation land and sold as mitigation land credits to developers in the area. 

Looking to build out a Team for new multifamily development in Phoenix.

However, even after being in the game for 5+ years and cutting down costs a lot, for example there is a "Home Depot" warehouse 2 hours away, everything is 50 percent off store price, if not negotiable).

Go to the business development office on Flores and Alamo.

Items like building permits, capital inflow, development, vacancy/eviction rates, population trends, business trends, commercial lease, time on market, supply, etc.

However, more savvy real estate investors will want you to have skin in the game and the ability to pay the loan back.

It’s a numbers game of buying lists or driving for dollars .. taking note of rundown looking homes and sending out thousands of mail pieces and working to convert motivated sellers into selling their home . https://www.marketwatch.com/story/home-flipping-activity-reaches-six-year-high-2018-06-07

We've also done some private lending to larger self storage developers as well as secured a nice sized HELOC on our property in hopes of using it on our next project.Our goal now is to build out our rental portfolio faster than we have been to try and gain financial freedom within the next 5 years or sooner. 

are there better ways to show skin in the game for hard money investors?

Although I've looked (and made lots of offers), I didn't realize that it was a whole different ball game trying to secure a loan for a multi-family vs when I bought a condo as my primary residence.I was hoping for feedback on the terms below and if they seem reasonable?