Some thoughts on your situation overall:In terms of vetting, I personally there is a limit to how much you can mitigate risks when working with a smaller contractor.

We have specific and unyielding criteria for this, which we provide to all potential borrowers in advance.

In December 2024, 67.9% of homes sold below the asking price, indicating potential opportunities for buyers to negotiate.

EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!

And @Natalie Bender is right about spreading your risk by going into multiple DSTs. 

. :)We definitely want to invest in true vacation rentals as well but this will be a good learning process with not as much risk to start.  

And my goal of trying it out would just to get familiar so I could potentially buy in a much better market. 

Certainly from a capital raise perspective, $5 -10 million is a reasonable amount.That being said, raising capital for a blind pool fund is much more difficult than raising capital for a syndication where the property is already identified and the potential investors know exactly where there money is being invested.

Right now there's huge concentration, but as this continues to build out and we see north of the high 30s GW by 10 years from now it'll be almost a requirement to keep some type of locality based risk assessment and to diversify. 

@Lauren Kormylo agree that there is a lot more risk and headache with wood burning fireplace.