When you go to present a proposal concerning a real estate project (or any sort of project for that matter), you definitely want to be organized down to the most minute detail. At the same time, don’t become so much of a perfectionist that you never get done. The number one thing above all, is whoever your presenting the proposal to is going to want to know A) what is their benefit to getting involved with you? And B) How do you plan on repayment?
Sell your proposal first, yourself second. This goes contrary to what a lot of people believe, but I believe in letting the quality of the work shine on its own, and that will reflect back on you. I’ve seen a lot of people make the mistake of selling themselves before they’ve sold the proposal. Yes, you want your appearance to be appropriately presentable, but appearance just gets you in the door. Substance is what keeps you there.
Show that you’re prepared for any interruptions (a contingency plan). Showing a rainy day fund of your own for personal calamity never hurts, and gives the investor(s) more confidence in you as a realist. Some people take this as pessimism. I say if pessimism didn’t have a place; Auto Zone would immediately be out of business. Things break all the time. It doesn’t mean it’s personal; the universe is against you, none of the above (even though it might feel like it sometimes). Things happen, period, point blank. It’s up to you to plan ahead.
There are insurance packages you can buy (and possibly get the investor to pay for) such as letters of credit or letters of performance. They should costs about 2-4% of what you are asking the investor to put up, and if for some reason you are not able to perform as promised for legitimate reasons, the investor’s funds are covered.
Illustrate how you plan to tackle the proposed project step by step. People are simply more comfortable spending large sums of money with people that can show them a logical “game plan” of how they plan to use your money to make money, what the possible risks and pitfalls are, how you plan to overcome or better yet, avoid and prevent pitfalls, what the finished outcome should look like, and most importantly, how they will be repaid.
Go in looking like a million bucks. Nobody’s going to be comfortable lending to someone who looks like they don’t really care about their own grooming and appearance. Don’t overdo it to the point where you look like you’re trying to sell the Brooklyn Bridge; it won’t come off authentic. Just be well-groomed, fresh haircut (or hairstyle for my lady investors), solid colored business wear (I would avoid “loud”, bright colors, since only a few people can pull off loud colors and still look professional).
The most important idea to leave this section with is showing up prepared to work, looking prepared to work and prepared to explain how you work and why will open a lot of closed doors for you.
IG: WB Hall 
Facebook: WB Hall
Twitter: wb hall @H5Consulting
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