Well, a large number of our members are rental home/apartment investors but there's plenty of other RE opportunities out there. 

Ran into many problems with contractors along the way, paid for some material twice as well as some projects to be redone.

Don’t forget about direct mail campaigns as well.

I currently broker LIHTC multi-family for a large firm coast to coast and am also interested in MF in the Arizona submarkets as well, and will eventually invest on that scale - I just figure breaking into the state through SFH flips may be a more risk adverse way to understand the pros and cons to phoenix submarkets.

As well as coffee shops like Bottoms Up Coffee are moving in and small microbreweries like brew dog and Land Grant. 

It's not for me and I'll have a decent amount of cash to work around from allow me not to do that but for most people it makes complete sense.

Really well done @Jimmy O'Connor!

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.

Would cash-flow very little.Obviously, a combination of the above is possible (pre-sell all but a few units, nullifying the profits, and therefore taxation).My feeling is that the first option would allow me to use profits to build something bigger (e.g., acquire another plot). 

Additionally, the STR market is quite oversaturated right now as well