If house hacking is off the table, the two paths I see work most often are:partnering with someone who has capital but needs hustle, ortaking on value-add projects where sweat equity creates the spread (small BRRRRs or light flips).If I were starting over, I’d focus on learning how to find and evaluate deals.

Further, the spread of net income of STR over LTR is steadily eroding, making the increased cost, risks, and time commitment for STR less attractive.  

By connecting the right buyer and seller, Marc turned a minimal investment into a quick $10,000 spread, proving that not every deal requires major work to be profitable.What was the outcome?

Ask for a rate sheet, and ask if he is collecting any yield-spread premium.

You spread out the risk for vacancies, repairs, etc.

I focus on spreading smaller amounts of capital across multiple deals to diversify risk while still participating in larger opportunities.

Generally, agency lenders want:-Net worth equal to or greater than the loan amount,-Liquidity of roughly 10% of the loan amount, spread across the guarantor team.This becomes a gating factor as you scale.

It’s more work on the front end, but you keep the entire spread and avoid the resets and percentage fees altogether.And completely agree on December.

Putting tax money in gold means you could be forced to sell at a dip just to pay the IRS.For the $875K you can invest, DCA over 10–12 months is reasonable.Especially since you’re coming out of real estate and into a new asset class, spreading the entry helps you sleep at night.

For double closes, confirm lender timelines, transaction costs, and spread after fees.