Skip forming a corporation for now—it won’t protect you from personal loans, and it adds unnecessary costs.

Also, in regards to a per diem, I'd like to be a bit more optimistic that I can establish the right checks and balances to ensure that the contractor is not skipping corners.

Many investors learned a hard lesson when the STR market took a hit initially during COVID.Until the shared living space concept matures, it's probably premature to skip the above investment evolution.

Learn the lawsDon't use a contract "off the internet", laws vary by state and are also regulated on a federal level Learn the financing techniques correctlyDon’t skip parts of the processDon’t ever do a “kitchen table” closingUse the proper deedAn attorney can help you with the legal work, but the rest you are on your ownYour guru will not bail you out“Investing” in someone else’s deal by providing a small 2nd loan so the “investor” can pay for “cash to the seller” and for “closing costs” so he can do the deal is a very bad planKnow what problems can ariseLearn the responses and solutions to problems before they are needed Know everything there is to know about Title and what that meansKnow who a "protected class" individual isLearn the "back doors"Learn human natureUnderstand timelinesUnderstand regulation enforcement (some of these "mistakes" have a 10 year statue of limitations ( they can charge you 10 years AFTER you do the transaction) and carry hefty fines and possible imprisonmentThe court doesn't accept "I didn't know" for an answer"Know that the source of the lead plays a serious role in some states and federallyKnow how much of a "profit" pushes the boundaries to invite an investigationYou can be sued by the seller if you don’t do things correctlyYou are automatically at fault if an investigator or attorney or regulator gets involved.

OP skip the rental units.  

For the rest, I scraped together savings and maybe skipped a few Starbucks runs (okay, a lot).

I decided to skip it.All in all, I run into rentals at below market most of the time. 

There are several platforms for skip tracing LLCs and Trusts.

I would look for investments with owner financing to skip past that requirement.Maybe you can partner with your parents on the first property?

I’m eating breakfast and adding thoughts as they pop in my head.