Do the above first.I don't track Minneapolis, but did part of the city get damaged, burned and tenants left? 

To answer #1, a track record with historical results you can show, a pitch deck that has a business plan with it, the sponsor putting in substantial equity...

Real estate sites like Zillow and Redfin track home prices and sales activity, indicating rising areas.

If you’re managing this process, using a platform like Agecroft Capital can help streamline the tracking of payments and equity as you go.As far as the risk? 

You're on the right track considering using depreciation to offset your 2024 capital gains, but there are a few important details to consider.

You may have to give up a big % of the GP on your first deal just to be a fly on the wall while building a track record. 

Standards are higher and things break or need to be replaced more often.Do you have a short term track record to show the lender?

They do not have the skills so these one offs that go way off track is their business, they know you'll never work with them again. 

Essentially, when they send the leads, there is no reference to where they came from or the URL to the lead source, making it difficult on our end to track. 

CCIM, SIOR, and all of the other designations you can amass never teach you how to pick up the phone and prospect for leads, track down growing/expanding businesses to convert to clients, how to manage tenants in a retail strip center, or do the myriad of other daily activities required to be a good commercial investment broker/owner.