Working with a great broker can also help as they will know how best to represent your interests and play the game.

Plus I just hit “Mark as played.”

It is a very safe play.

Comps to me no longer play the only role because of rates, seasonality, etc., it definitely fights the arguments on re-fis with the appraiser but I'm noticing there's just a liquidity issue that is skewing things.I try to essentially start at the floor and work my way up on the ARV as opposed to seeing the highs and working it down.

I have more than 20k to play with, just looking for ideas for best use. 

As others have alluded to, buying larger units or a house near the beach is a better play. 

Another option is to look into some funds as well that allow smaller investments. some are anywhere from 500-$10,000 minimums and accept non accredited investors (through regulation a+).If you ran numbers of a loan paying p&i at 10% but ot being able to reinvest the principal payments you realize how low your returns actually are. so yes notes are great but also understand that idle money for any investment is not fun.

And, frankly, all these cases are kind of fun to read.

lots of fun.

Next, fun-fact is "Big Government" is what facilitated this whole disaster in the first place.