I had zero money and house-hacked my way to 32 properties (pretty much!).

Eric,, I think why people go for the fund model is the idea that they are spreading their money into multiple notes being held by the company.. while in theory this is great but as you noted you don't really have any security compared to being the beneficiary of the debt instrument IE debt is in your name. 

You’ll want to make sure your cpa is well versed in short term rentals. 

Quote from @Kyle Kline: Hello,I am curious if anybody has experience using short note investing to raise funds for an investment property down payment.

I don't think you will get anyone to loan you money on tax liens/deeds. 

Run credit and background checks, actually call the listed referrals, and ask for bank statements.

Quote from @Vincent Pflieger: Hey everyone,I’ll keep this short and would love to hear from investors who have successfully leveraged a HELOC to scale their real estate portfolio for both short-term cash flow and long-term wealth building.I’m about to unlock $200-250K in HELOC from my primary residence (a condo in NYC), and I know there’s a powerful strategy I can implement.My current plan:✅ Acquire a 10-15 unit multifamily in a mid-sized market (AL, TN, OH, etc.), targeting a $700-800K deal with value-add potential.✅ Use 20% from my HELOC for the down payment and finance the rest with hard money.✅ Force appreciation over 6 months, then refinance into a DSCR loan to pay off the HELOC.✅ Rinse and repeat!

It's like trying to run a hotel from a distance.

My main job is running my investment holding company, so I'm familiar with public and private market investments but new to RE. 

This would pay us back less than we were owed but still enough to come out whole.We all tried to negotiate a short payoff with the second-position lender, who foolishly demanded payment in full.