If you want to get more cash out than you originally paid you will need to hold the property for a seasoning period and have It reappraised.

Office buildings are less sensitive to consumer demand than shopping malls, while hotels, with their short, seasonal stays and reliance on business and tourism travel, pose far more risk than either apartments or office.3.

With the case from that article, it seems to me the developer is just taking some profit by letting go of the retail space and focusing on the office space. 

I am looking to network with real estate developers in Georgia.

Like Account Closed said, you need to develop a relationship with a wholesaler/investor-friendly Realtor, etc. that you trust so that you can offer on these properties with more confidence from out of state.

I have two seasoning right now that I paid for with cash.

Now I am a software developer looking to begin investing.

Loan requirements change time to time and from bank to bank, so you have to check what the currently are, and you already got some good comments.Just to forewarn you when I approach banks to get my NOO mortgage, and if you tell them the down payment is from a HELOC, the answer is "NO, you cannot use it, it got to be seasoned funds".

And a lot of these folks are outbidding seasoned investors then losing their shirts because they paid too much.

If there is ways you can add value through cosmetic work AND negotiate a price to but you in a good position with a fair amount of equity to begin with my opinion would be find another partner to front the remaining amount needed to put the down payment on a HML until property seasoned and then refinance into conventional through bank/credit union.