i've heard good things about Passco and Cantor.e) i'm leaning toward using Archer Investors as the qualified intermediary but any other references would be appreciatedHi Dennis, thanks for the mention of our firm.

Does anyone know if the project would qualify if you already own the land?

I defiantly see changes to higher than $10MM combined retirement balances (with painful RMD requirements for the $20MM + account owner), the "closing" of the "back door" Roth (Sec 138311), prohibition of IRA account holder "qualifying" the IRA for accredited investments.  

How did you go about finding qualified contractors when you entered a new market?

We weren't handy and we had full time jobs, but were eager to have a qualified pro - a licensed handyman or GC - get started. 

I think they have a local branch close by and they are aggressive with their requirements (meaning that they are fairly easy to qualify). 

@Tyler Smerz - If you can qualify for a conventional loan and can afford the extra 1.5% down payment, I'd recommend going that route over FHA so that you can save yourself some money on the Mortgage insurance cost.

im looking into other alternatives for purchasing as well as i currently do not qualify for conventional financing.

This also manifests on these very forums, the "I'm buying a house, but my loan is being jammed up by X, Y, and Z," threads, where X, Y, and Z, are things that only come up on purchase transactions (income/DTI issues, down payment sourcing, title issues, for example), not refinances ("if they qualified when they got the purchase mortgage and didn't get fired, they're qualified now because the rate/payment is lower, so no need to check income/DTI upfront," no down payments on refis so no need to verify funds / bank statements, no title changes on typical refis, no purchase contracts on refis, you get the idea). 

@Jillian Dior: I'm unsure I'm qualified to offer that kind of advice.