Owning land upfront boosts LTV, saving 10-20% down, but permit delays and 15% overruns on one build highlight the need for contingencies.LTC Ratios: 70-80% LTC, up to 95% LTV if land owned; one dev secured 80% on a $300k build.Holding/Closing Costs: Included in initial draws (up to 10% budget, ~$20-30k); a builder rolled $8k closing + 3 months holding into a $250k loan.Points: 1-2 upfront, minimal backend (1-3% total); a $400k spec home paid 1.5 points ($6k).Creative Structures: 80/20 JVs (8-12% pref, then 50/50 at 40% IRR) sold 16 duplexes; seller-financed land (10% down, 20-year note) saved on a $80k lot.

I’ve been actively involved in buying and selling real estate notes and have been learning a lot about creative ways to invest in mortgage notes — both performing and non-performing.I’m curious — who here has experience with note investing?

If not, I know what to do.I would much rather get the note performing and double my money in a year or two, but foreclosure works too.

Just be sure to understand THEIR performance, good or bad (but usally bad), will refelect on YOU:(Create a blog where you post all of the above

Do that a few times and you will have 4 or 5 performing LTR properties that will provide a good base for other investing options.It isn't fancy or sexy but it builds wealth with lower risk.

I’ve owned/managed STRs in nearby markets and both the Catskills and Hudson Valley can work — they just perform differently.

In particular, I'd like to know which has performed better for you personally in terms of annual cashflow, and which you would recommend to a beginning investor?

If you are doing performing loans, depending on your budget I would also consider private lending - you typically will find borrowers with higher credit scores when doing private lending (if you do it right).You can also do non performing loans (Which is what we do), but those are a completely different animal to performing.

Otherwise the towns in the area have some pretty reasonably priced homes that seem to perform well relative to price. 

For the reasons above - the pressure to perform can be emotionally distracting.