Switching gears from buying to lending?

[Tawny Bloom]

My husband and I currently have an owner occ duplex and have been saving for another investment property for a while.  Unfortunately the area we live in is fairly expensive and another property in decent condition would cost $325k+ and any good properties are usually under contract in less than a week.  We did look at one last week but then found out due to my husbands self employment we most likely couldn't get a conventional loan (even though we could swing a down payment).  We watched the Private Lending webinar last night with the thought that we might be able to ask our wealthy relative (who does larger scale RE investing) if he would want to fund our loan.  But it got us thinking of maybe it makes sense to hold off buying for a year and maybe do some private lending in the mean time.  We have some cash built up that is only making 1% and it kills me to have it sitting there for a long time frame.  

Any thoughts on switching gears?  I don't like the idea of peer-to-peer lending as much as there is no collateral but lending to someone unknown to me us also scary.  I would love some feedback from other lenders out there.  Thanks!