We are experienced and have never involved anyone in our projects and have never used a loan outside of a conventional mortgage.

I dont know your business model exactly but I assume you collect some referral fee from the supplier?

just know they have completely different business models was my point where the HML are usually getting payoffs constantly and the note guys they need to foreclose to liquidate which is much more involved.. although i suspect they do get payoffs too.  

The capital stack especially in CA is VERY complex and typically involves everything and more that you mentioned.

I personally have no connections with anyone who is involved in this niche and I'm wondering how other people have started their journey.

How many small banks and businesses went bankrupt and closed?

Make it part of your business model and focus on scaling vs managing.

So this involves hiring an architect draw up plans ($1,000 - 3,000 if I had to guess).  

It takes more effort and there's more risk involved (therefor more reward), but it just depends on your goals and how you want to get there.As far as focusing on areas with high demand for travel nurses, that's just 1 tenant-type of many in a changing landscape.

No agents involved.