I am wondering if my first steps (past the education part) is to build a network of people who know, like, and trust me through posting content like newsletters, articles, podcasts, doing webinars, going to events (aka build my brand), or, should I first find a deal and then raise capital?

We have our own team for our properties and we don't manage for third parties, but I do see the cost. 

I prefer driving for dollars and use my mailers from a 3rd party company after building my list.

In terms of structuring the deal you can do it however you want as long as it is legal, ethical and agreed upon by both parties.

Readers: a broker is not the contractual party who is responsible to deliver the file and it's contents to you.

While this may take a little more time/effort on your part, I believe it produces much better results.

@Jon Fletcher There are basically two potential options. 1) Amend the tax return in the year of purchase and prove you used capital gains to purchase the property and 2) Sell the property to an OZF, follow the 20% related party rule and then the structure of the sale of the property to be able to reinvest the gains.

Downtown is a good landing spot for wedding parties, corporate groups, families during the holidays, events, etc.

Using borrowed money to lend to another party does not change the parameters of what your CoC is for that loan.

He can try to work out a modification of the loan in some way, and there are literally dozens of different types of modification that may be appropriate for any given situation and may prove beneficial for both parties.