An 8% protected preferred return or a 10-12% target return. 3) Our passive note platform (Swell.investments) has yield from 8-20%. these are loans we have already originated and are available right now and we are happy to keep vs. matchmaking or crowdfunding where you only get to invest if the marketplace collects enough investor dollars or the matchmaker has a deal ready to fund (what you call whole trust deed investing).

I need a central collection for all my "to-do's", a tracker for progress on projects (from rehabs to acquisitions to honey-do projects).

You can find higher ROI (on paper) here and probably in other cities…but the probability of actually collecting rent significantly decreases.

However, in any civil judgement, collecting is a different story. 

Sometimes it can be difficult to collect and some landlords will keep any unpaid utilities out of the security deposit, though CA is one of the trickier states to do this in.

You could also ask for early occupancy so you can begin to collect rent and take all the holding expenses off their plate.

There's some connection you have to this person with money who is looking to invest it short term and collect an x% return. 

Then you state how that will be collected.

I used to go and bang on the door to collect rent in cash which I don't do anymore, but I learned a ton with my first one. 

Find a renter, qualify them, move them in, collect rent, oversee repairs, re-sign leases, move them out, turn the unit, rinse and repeat.