The city has done improvements to the park (DISC golf course) and is doing a fun glow-in-the-dark path. 

He has no skin in the game. 

I don't agree with not having skin in the game.You are borrowing other people's money to get involved in real estate or oil and gas.If you don't pay the note, they will take the property / investment away.

So I require skin in the game (average is 5% to 15%) to offset this.

Having skin in the game is better than having no skin in the game.

Many first time homebuyers struggle to have any skin in the game in the first place.

But my favorite sponsors aren't from here.I'm a conservative investor, so when I invest in multi-family I prefer sponsors that have at least one full real-estate cycle of experience, little to no money lost, low leverage, and high skin in the game.And there is a multi-family operator that has multiple real estate cycles of experience (decades) and it's track record claims no money lost in that time.

But it’s a reminder that “buying at the top” with minimal skin in the game can hurt when the market shifts, even slightly.Early signs of trouble or short-term noise in specific metros?

I have been having problems getting kicked off the system after writing a response so I just put one sentance up to test it .. still weird but worked.1. back ground check  no one with bad history.2. meet in person 99% of the time3. fly to the market review the projects they have done and are contimplating.4. some skin to start then we do true JV deals IE our money their work.

@Chris Seveney, I’ve seen the same: anything below 1.0 rarely gets over the finish line unless there’s serious skin in the game or a story that makes the lender comfortable.