Individually a HELOC could possibly work if there is enough equity where it made sense.Randy

I'm afraid if you don't get a handle on it or let them go with a referral it could be detrimental to your business and could quite possibly lead to negative google reviews. 

In the future you could add in penalties for being late and possibly a bonus for being early.

Ourcurrent approach involves identifying possible contact information for thelisted owners and calling multiple numbers, but this process is time-consumingand yields limited results.

And in part, it depends on the investors and capital that you have access to (this tends to play a factor in many decisions when raising outside capital).If you do want to go the fund route, you might want to consider using Avestor. 

We are looking to capture a rental or two and one of those possibly being another STR. 

This plays into the affordability issues for tenants by allowing them to live in nicer neighborhoods for less money, yet I get monthly revenue comparable to short-term rentals.

They also have calculators to analyze deals, and I highly recommend you start this as soon as possible, even if you are not ready to buy.

Backstory: As some of you know based on previous post of mine I've found my first "possible" real estate deal. 

I am far from an expert in this field as I have been learning alot myself but cap rate does play a role in your type of business.