Lance If you're looking at Cleveland the 1st place you want to start your research is going to be reading The Ultimate Guide to Grading Cleveland Neighborhoods.

Don't have a lot of real estate experience so would like to invest in units under $400K for now and we can scale from there. 

Sure, once you get to the point where you go to Home Depot, rent a sander, and go over the floor 4 or 5 times with progressively smoother grades, it becomes more manageable.

This decision alone can determine if you scale to 30 units in 3 years vs. 6 units in 3 years.

I've scaled to 9 doors now across Memphis and Detroit.

Any time spent on your properties will provide you with invaluable experience and understanding of the asset you own.As you scale, you will hire more and more work out but until then don't be afraid to get into your investments.The picture below was a long day managing a community park we are building in one of my mobile home park communities. $50,000 job done for less than $10,000.

What strategies would you suggest for someone looking to scale up in my situation?

Quote from @Varun Hegde: He went on a podcast less than a month ago, so Lane Kawaoka is definitely still marketing himself as an expert.I actually remember reading about him a couple months ago and feeling jealous, but the only way I could've built similar scale is running 90% LTV on multiple deals... sounds like that's what they did.It doesn't surprise me that many of these syndications are blowing up left and right. 

I want to point out that there is most definitely an element of economy of scale here - most profitable lenders need a team of people with specific skills to lend efficiently and profitably.

This will drive how much you can borrow.Consider More Modest Options FirstWith $200k in investments to deploy, look at starting with 1-2 short-term rental properties first to gain experience before scaling up.Explore markets closer to your mom's current location that may have lower costs but still tourism appeal.This allows you to validate the model and your ability to operate short-term rentals successfully before risking more capital.The short-term rental concept could potentially work, but I would recommend starting with a smaller, very well-researched first step to validate the model before going all-in on a larger endeavor.