Still not 100% sure what I will do at the end of this (we are a long, long way from the 3.5% rates and hot, hot sellers market of December 2021/Jan 2022 when I started looking into this). 

Do some smaller dollar private lendingA property is too capital intensive and $20k will not get you very far.You also did not describe what level of risk you want to take, so that is something also to take into consideration when evaluating where to invest.

That number seems high but the neighborhood was “hot” and houses sold really quickly.What I cared about most was completing my second deal to gain experience.

Great to see you're in North Carolina—a lot of hot markets there.

. - Acreage will continue to be a very hot commodity.

Quote from @Johnny Lynum: Quote from @Billy Smith: I like SFH in the A-B area rent it you do the  upkeep  doing as much as possible your self to help max your rent out .I like to pay down the note as fast as possible .If in a C-D area I would flip the SFH wash your hands of it.SFH are generally easier to unload if you get in a cash crunch, I like staying in the first time home buyers level of a SFH  keeping it in a hot zone .If I were a BIG fish I would do deals at various level's of course after  doing the home work . 

If the project is in Canada then I would look to an attorney that understands international law as it could be more complex.Personally for something along the lines of what you are doing I would look to partner with another developer vs trying to raise the capital as that will be less labor intensive.

I worked for a bar company and we went around grabbing beat up spaces and turning them into hot nightclubs. 

Hotels are the baby of real estate investing and running a business.Unlike any other commercial asset class, hotels are extremely labor-intensive to run but can spit off ridiculous cash flow.

@Jason Wray, The reason that our shop is pretty hot about your post is two-fold, we do all of the things that you are implying that we don't (other than government loans, we don't work in that space).