When they do you're typically talking about non traditional banks, or you're getting into the commercial side of their lending.

Would typically need to have your project at a minimally complete level. 

In your review section, they rate various features, like accuracy of listing, cleanliness, location, value..

Is there a benefit to that approach vs just getting a typical home loan on the second property?

You'd need to line itemize the closing costs and tell us how much you're buying the property for to get a real opinion of where you might be getting hosed, if anywhere.For an example, on a recent $200k cash purchase closing I had here in Raleigh, I paid $550 to the attorney for his fee to conduct the title search and close the loan (this is higher than I typically pay but I closed at an atty's office that I don't usually close at due to other semantics surrounding the deal itself and the seller). 

REIA meetings are usually $20 or so (at least where I live) and the other meetups are typically free.

My company has built large residential multifamily developments in these areas with title recordings Edwrd to show to you upon your request.In addition to our regular revenues from for sale and selling now projects in open airy suburban areas of high demand as stated above [partially by luck of course - no one knew the pandemic would come ] plus our annual rental portfolio management fees of over 800 rental units we manage and development fees revenue {typically $2 M or $3M per new residential multifamily development project } as major revenue sources we additionally enjoy our real estate asset management fees , and monthly interest on our diversified CMBS residential investment grade bond portfolio.

The key feature in this case is whether it was an exclusive or not.If it was a non-exclusive right to sell, the seller was within his rights to sell to any other party.

The forums, the ability to follow others, and other features would really be beneficial to what I have in mind. 

I see what your saying Grant I typically have been trying to run my numbers off a 20% down payment scenario.