Now that the 5% down conventional loan program is widely available (since November last year) I generally recommend using that as opposed to FHA because FHA comes with minimum property condition standards, the self-sufficiency test, and it's less attractive to sellers.

If the Cincinnati market is your choice I would love to have a conversation with you.  

Those long deals (6 months or more) usually have some big issue with the property or business that can’t be resolved quickly and since you’re dealing with SBA you have only one choice—wait until the issue is resolved.

. $800 a year in franchise tax fees is my no means sufficient to buy liability protection from a determined litigant.4) Would you hire an environmental testing company to test the land (to which you have no legal access - but I doubt the dead guy would call the cops on you) once the foreclosure process has progressed well enough, but before it's conclusion, so that you tell the lawyer to stop foreclosure in case some major contamination is discovered?

To me this was a bad choice by a rookie investor.  

Think about other financing choices, such as traditional lending or innovative financing alternatives for homes with several units.

Not all cities in all of the states we invest in are good choices.

Typically, when funds acquire loans, they assume delinquency/default risk in exchange for earning a yield on their investment.Yet this would work differently – it’s a request to purchase debt alongside a corresponding put option/insurance policy.From the buyer’s perspective, as long as the seller remains solvent, with sufficient liquidity for any exercised options, it’s a risk-free investment.

But now I question if it was the best choice.

Have you heard of Rent App and is that a good idea (instead of Venmo) and sufficient for tracking rent payments?