I hope I'm wrong, but it appears this crap is here to stay. 

If everyone is happy (owner, vendor, tenant), then they are probably doing something wrong. 

Don't get me wrong, you want/need to make the place decent but when it comes to making choices about where to spend money I will lean more to function. 2.

Not saying it is wrong, just make sure you understand that "product" and are building the systems and team necessary to make it work well.• Student housing is not “set it and forget it.”

Most people evaluate them using the wrong playbook.A few key points that matter more than the headline rent cap:You make money on basis and operations, not rent growth.In rent-controlled markets, your upside usually comes from buying well below replacement cost, reducing expenses, improving operations, and tightening management.

I'm not sure if you are in a "disclosure" state meaning that it's public record as to what you paid for the land, but sometimes there is a psychological hurdle where if the builder/buyer knows you got it at a good price, they aren't excited about helping you make a quick/fat profit, not that there's anything wrong with that, but some of those local custom homebuilders are very territorial about certain neighborhoods and thus a bit entitled.

Do your homework.  10 years ago, you almost could do no wrong. 

Flips here could go wrong with one mistake, my holding cost was killing me that I had to sell the property "for sale by owner" by paying an agent $99 to have a posted on the MLS just to save on the commission.

The reality is that owning single-family real estate in far-off areas is not a completely passive investment and is often the wrong approach for most people. 

Risk that you will not enter good data, resulting in a possibly seriously wrong results2.