As a builder I think about the land cost and the materials cost and labor cost, and how these factors can be incorporated into one property for a family or individual to afford.

I know you can buy individual notes from them without being accredited, and they used to provide training to educate investors, but they stopped that program.

You can qualify for this by:Having tenants for 7 days or less at a time.Materially participate, typically with the test: You participated in the activity for more than 100 hours during the tax year, and you participated at least as much as any other individual (including individuals who didn’t own any interest in the activity) for the year.Here's a helpful article that covers material participation and other options if you don't have REPS https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/51/topics/1198185-how-c...

I have purchased a rental property as an individual and rented it out a couple of months ago. 

Duplex sold in Dover in 2025 for mid $500’s Both units have 3 bed/1 bath apartments Both units are in decent shape but there is room for some cosmetic upgrades 270k/unit and approx $240/sqftThese two numbers tell us this duplex is very on par for what the market looks like in Dover  Because of the larger bedroom count, I’d like to play out a house hack scenario: PITI payment + maintenance/Capex + vacancy + energy bills + reserves= $5400/mo(rough estimate)  Now I’ve been hearing that this winter has proved to be harder than normal for landlords to rent out, so assuming a below market rent for a 3 bedroom in Dover going for $2100 and two individual rooms in your own unit renting for $600, that totals up to be $3300, leaving an additional $2k/mo rent to pay.

STR: The 7 day rule and “100 hours of material participation”The 100 hour rule: You participate for more than 100 hours, and no other individual (including cleaners or property managers) spends more time on the activity than you.The STR closed mid December 2025.

The IRS expects your cost seg report to be "factually intensive", "supported by corroborating evidence" and performed by a "qualified individual.”

I would approach this by individual market (neighborhood), when we do a flip (unless its a family matter like my current project.)

One was for a toilet that she said wouldn't flush (turns out she wasn't allowing the tank more than a few seconds to refill) and one was for the unit being too hot (in a building that has a central plant system, meaning the entire building is on either a/c or heat and individual units cannot control their own heating and cooling).

Broadly speaking, if proper documents have been provided, the Fed has already vetted the individuals to some extent.