Quote from @Anthony Stephens: It sounds interesting but my concern is that this would be an unsecured loan to someone who may not be in a good financial position.

At the same time though, if you are the one who walked into the store and tried on the clothes and asked the sales clerk how it looks, then your asking to be influenced. if you spend time on a real estate investing website where people are in the business of investing in real estate and you ask if you should invest, you will likely get a lot of responses that say you should invest in real estate and let me help you for a fee.

A frank, hopefully insightful, dive into real estate and financial markets.

Working with a CPA or financial planner can help optimize tax strategies and ensure the best approach for your goals.This post does not create a CPA-Client relationship.

I don't want to name names, but I use a major US financial institution for my banking.

Prioritize your financial stability.

We have a solid system in Quickbooks and want to stay with that for financials.

A STR is a completely different animal in my opinion, in that it requires more work and much more compromise, but financially is worth the effort. 

The borrower's financials play a big part as well.

Communication and setting expectations are key to any smooth financial transaction.