Study the market.

I've done pretty well as a relatively novice investor in the stock market, just investing in S&P 500 tracking index funds.

Use tools like AirDNA or Mashvisor to provide market data on projected rental income and occupancy rates, and make sure your lender works with appraisers familiar with short-term rentals.

Same goes across markets.

Selling your share at fair market value could avoid gift tax but may trigger capital gains tax for you based on the sale price and your cost basis.In California, the transfer may also trigger a property tax reassessment under Proposition 13 unless a specific exemption applies.

Set a goal for yourself based on your needs, your location and your market and shoot for that.

If you are trying to do this in Newark, you need to know the market of that particular set of blocks so you don't overdevelop for the farm area.

When you start raising money, the kinds of investors you're going to get are individuals who want to make a better return than the stock market. 

The best way to get that IMO:- Kindly ask 2-3 local large Property Mangers in your market if they'd share there lease.- Check the Off-Market Facebook Housing groups at your school. 

Factoring market conditions at the time of refinance, I negotiated a lower rate and conceded a lower term anticipating rates to normalize in the 4%-5% range by 2026.