I like Sokie but never thought about it from investment perspective due to higher price point perception. 

@Jerusha Holderyou are very perceptive.  

Crowd Funding - A fairly sophisticated way of finding money but the ultimate growth tool.

We began a more serious play-book and team building phase about 4 years ago and are hopefully becoming more sophisticated.

There are other exemptions that allow for up to 35 non-accredited investors at the national level as long as they're sophisticated.  

Perception matters, are you a personal lender or are you looking for a business opportunity?

Instead, these strategies are really for sophisticated negotiations, and should not be used to aggravate an existing precarious financial situation. 

Currently, my primary focus is on residential, however, I have negotiated many sophisticated real estate contracts in the telecom and commercial real estate arenas.

And the market is hot right now.The sellers want out but not being the most sophisticated people in the world, they are advertising it only through a small Facebook group which is how I found it.

And if that is the case, how much more do you think you can negotiate the price down when you are using the listing agent and you just started the process by taking money out of his pocket (This will be his perception of your request even if he would be making 1% more with you vs a represented buyer).