We did the research and saw that it wasn't a bad deal and made an appointment to meet with them. 

When you asked them why 4 and not 5, they reply something in the lines: "4 is not bad, all was good...

Darion, I live in the West Houston area and consider buy and hold the right strategy for my objectives, I would love to grab lunch with you one day after Memorial Day...my treat!

But land in the path of progress if you have some cash is not a bad thing.also I love timber land in the north west.We bought a 700 acre tree farm in 2000.. for 1.8 mil cash.. 

We will treat it as an investment property, and we’ll still want our minimum financial requirements met on the property we choose.

Please advise whether this is a good idea/ bad idea?

When you reflect on this issue, investors can invest with a large number of Real Estate Investment Firms that set up “shell company” Special Purpose Entity [SPE] LLCs, that tell the investor their money is at full risk and they can lose all, and if they invest in that set up and the project fails the investor has absolutely no recourse, no coverage from any other company of the sponsor and has lost all.Doesn’t it make a lot more sense to go with a Realty Sponsor who puts the full faith and credit of their firm and its 13 year history behind the separate project with a corporate guarantee showing they believe in the project, showing that they back the project, and stand ready to guarantee the project with their monies in the event of a bad result?

I've been through a couple bad management firms in other states that had no problem spending money on unnecessary repairs.

Treat your real estate decisions as serious business. 

It's too bad this happened, sounds like you learned from it.