That’s the best bet.

Nothing is a sure bet.

Best bet though is a local community business bank.. 

Their solution was for me to take over ownership of not one but five homes from Jeff's portfolio, all of which I had sold him and subsequently leased.Despite my being patently unfinanceable, the bank president placed a bet on me because I knew the homes, I knew the tenants, I knew what I was doing, and I was rabidly hungry.

An experienced broker with lots of choices at the palm of their hand is probably the best bet.

I’m not a betting man.

Quote from @Brandon Foster: Hello Ryan,STR is do able in the north county area but there are a lot of rules and regulations.The city of Oceanside right now will not allow anything STR unless it’s west of pacific coast hwy.This is changing a lot too so you need to be aware of that in your plans.Carlsbad is super strict too but there are some condos that are still available to do STR in.Medium term rentals are as safer bet but way less profitable.

You can talk to the bank about a loan; however, my bet is they will want some form of contract and scope of work and will only pay him at set milestones.

If they have money and can compete on pricing, brokers will be the best bet.  

I'm betting he'd drive to that area.