Plus most retail buyers and sellers like having an expert on their team to ask questions and make sure they aren't making beginner mistakes on what is often the biggest financial transaction of their lives. 

If the investor chooses to invest in a notes fund, then the manager is doing all the work you described rather than the investor.And if the investor chooses well, that manager will have years more of experience than the investor can hope to ever attain (and will not make rookie mistakes which they might).

I put my criteria clearly in the listing: 3x income over rent, 85% on-time payment history on credit report, and good references from past landlord.The biggest mistake you can make is taking the word of a current landlord.

Yes, it's easy to ask you these questions after the fact, but you won't succeed unless you carefully review your mistakes and learn from them.Not sure I agree with your statement, "RTR knew they’d messed up".

. - Sponsor learns from mistakes.

What happens if you sell a property to invest somewhere else and make a mistake?

Your agent should be able to connect you to a lender that would have experience with the VA process.Quick primer on VA loans.https://www.va.gov/housing-***...One of the things I did since my first purchase was to write down in a log all the mistakes I made with each  property.

You can hear real-world examples of how others have built their investment portfolio and (hopefully) learn to avoid their mistakes.4.

Since I'm the sole member of the LLC is there anything I need to be concerned about or consequences if I make a mistake? 

I would be happy to have a call sometime to discuss your plans and see what I can do to help avoid some of the mistakes and also what to look for in this market as it is very competitive.