Make sure you have a solid lease, your tenant knows your expectations, how are you going to screen them, etc.

I’m new to private money lending, so while I understand the concepts in principle, I’m still figuring out how to identify and connect with these investors in practice.To clarify, I’m targeting 6+ unit multifamily properties, and private money is a way to scale my expertise from smaller properties into larger ones.

Now, you need to figure out how to find deals and pay for them.

For instance, if I buy a house 20% down, 5% closing prep costs where the rent matches the mortgage, interest and tax and assume a 5% rent growth and appreciation, I'm expecting an 11% total return which is just not good enough for the hassle involved. 

Now, you need to figure out how to find deals and pay for them.

I think your expectations are out of line with reality in many ways.

That may give you some indication of what to expect.

I’m not from the US and currently live in Europe most of the time.I’ve found some apartments that could work well for my needs—I plan to rent them out on Airbnb and reserve a few nights for myself when I travel there for work.My question is: apart from the purchase price (I’ve seen listings on Zillow averaging around $150k in areas like downtown Dallas, Old East, and Plano), what other costs should I expect—both during the acquisition and in monthly payments?

I think the expectation at Airbnb has definitely been elevated to a whole new level. 

Just expect to pay more upfront for that stability.