The point of the contract is to provide value to both buyers and sellers and  this deal saves the buyer over $1M in interest and easily $100k in furnishings while getting the seller their full equity and saving buy side/sale side realtor commissions.

I am also a lender, with Chase Bank, but want to expand my knowledge on hard money and private financing options.

@Dustin Horner you should be contracting maintenance work and creating a preferred list of vendors as @Phillip Austin has recommended.The first person you hire to help you should be to handle what you LEAST like to do yourself or has the greatest time savings for you!

There is no tax savings from an LLC.2.

However, private financing options are becoming increasingly popular for scaling portfolios.Zoning and restrictions: As you mentioned, regulations for short-term rentals, such as Airbnb, vary significantly.

I have heard of cabin / mountain market STR operators doing some kind of hiking package, or way to connect a guest to a private tour guide for an "upcharge" which gives the hike tour guide an income and the STR operator a nice upcharge too. 

Because I am partnering with them instead of simply using them as a private lender, they are getting equity in the deal and splitting the profits with me rather than charging a premium on the interest payment.Im not really worried about the strategy, it is solid with low risk.

Implementing water-saving initiatives is a smart way to reduce utility costs.

@Ji Yang, I advise reading articles by @Ian Ippolito (also in BiggerPockets) online (google him) about how to vet sponsers and what to look at in a private placement memorandum.

No matter what you do I think you are going to have guests point out that something isn’t working which could lead to annoyance or requests for refunds or bad reviews.Plus, providing bottled water over the long term probably isn’t going to save you much money compared to paying a plumber to get the fridge connected.