We live in Lakeland, TN 20 miles from the Blue Oval site and I recently had a new BO employee rent one of my homes with a potential to sell in the Spring/Summer of next year.

I have a potential private lender, but I need to determine if this is a viable investment opportunity and explore the best financing optionsYou’re a first time investor going for 36 units… alone?

But the one thing that you can control is your creativity and how far are you willing to go with risk . 

Also consider contacting houses that look vacant, simply door knocking in a neighborhood that you are interested in and talking to the homeowners in a genuine way, For Sale By Owners is another potential, using an App like Nextdoor or Facebook pages/groups related to local real estate and just telling the group what you are looking for, contractors also know about houses coming on the market soon and so do property management companies, and finally garage sales are a good way to find off-market properties as people prepare to sell.To Your Success!

EDUCATE YOURSELF - yes, it will take time, but will lead to a selection that better meets your expectations & avoids potentially costly surprises!

Midterm rentals often offer higher returns than long-term rentals, but you'll also have to manage more frequent turnovers and potential vacancies.

With clay you risk busting the tiles, or even dislodging one that has to then be excavated anyway.

The risk is too high of losing everything.

Are there specific advantages or potential pitfalls I should consider when structuring these activities through my LLC?

If they want to severely overpay, cool, but as others have said, the risk of default in this case is probably high 98th percentile.