I would start by thinking through who can serve that role for you.

I aim to allocate a small amount of funds toward a Roth IRA and a high-yield savings account (HYSA).My current job offers limited opportunities for overtime, so I’m exploring side work related to real estate, such as part-time property management or similar roles.

The resources we had:- a bank (conventional) that lends money up to 35k for 650 credit score- hard money lender with APR 120%- seller/community (who acts like he doesn't want to talk at all)- a real estate mentor that costs $35K to useThe "answer" to this exercise was:Use personal credit to borrow from the bank and spend the $35k on mentor, and then mentor has the "connection" with the community bank to negotiate a deal and brought a 70K property for 40K with FMV of $140K.

For newer CRE developers working to establish credibility for larger scale deals, I’m curious about the role of financial documentation in building trust with brokers and sellers.

A land trust primarily obscures ownership, but its role in your structure needs clarification.

Market conditions also play a role, including the availability of contractors, appraisers, and lenders.

These investors were looking for Passive income, but they didn’t realize they had to fill the role as an Investment banker and they didn’t have the skill set or systems to do that.  

You need to do what you can to keep ALL of your places pest free and teach your tenants their role in the process as well. 

However, for the purpose of a healthy and helpful discussion, I invite you to the the do the following exercise to get the facts first:1.

This is especially important if you're on the younger side, as those returns can compound significantly over the next few decades.I'm in a small real estate mastermind group, and we all did this exercise with our own portfolios and identified underperforming properties and equity to reposition, and presented it the group for feedback.