I've tried using greeting cards of various colors, using off season stamps, hand writing the letters, using colored paper, and even putting photos of projects I've done. 

You might spend $3000/month or more mailing post cards, and making a ton of phone calls, or just driving for $.Buying from many wholesalers is risky. 

Pretty unreal.At some point, this house of cards will collapse.

Same thing for cameras: I like old style trail cameras with a memory card (for rural properties personally) but if you have wifi onsite, or if you're willing to sign up for monthly fee (services for $5/month and up) the ones with a sim card are getting really affordable nowadays too. 

Credit cards are an "investment"? 

Drafted a plan, gathered estimates, created a budget, put together DTI sheets, even got an "as-built" appraisal, and also have it in a permit status at the Local Building and safety office.Then I started to look into the construction loan and the permanent financing....to do it myself, and not through a builder.I soon realized that there are sooo many companies out there that want to try to help...but cant  (some of them were even on this network of people):  don't have builds on record, won't allow for owner-built homes, my credit is less than 680, while carrying the construction loan, there may be a point at the end where because i have my rental house while building that it become hard to pay, and  I can't pull out a private loan to help start process because my credit cards balances are horrible...and my "business" has no show of income.So, now we are here in the present time....   

Can anyone answer the typical payment lag for ACH or credit card processing?

I found them to be totally useless and thankfully I had to have the card linked with billing replaced after I lost my wallet.

Things I'm considering but would love to hear everyone's pros and cons on: friends and family, hard money, credit cards, others?

i really think it's that simple.and, for me personally, if i have long term tenants that have consistently paid on time and had no issues for several years, i will usually get them a gift card or something at year 3 or 5.there is no consensus on BP on this.