You will truly only get out what you put into finding these types of deals.  

That approach might not serve the seller well, especially since the goal is to genuinely help them by offering a reliable quick solution.My current thought is to focus on networking and building a solid and extensive buyers list and understanding their ideal investment criteria upfront.

Problem: Too many goals - personally, I feel that the ideal number of annual goals is three.

We are an LLC, but I wanted to know what type of reputational hit this will be for us and if this would show on our credit in any way.

You usually can do these loans with NO points, you just need to work with a broker who has access to dozens of lenders as there are plenty of lenders that can provide these type of loans with No Points. 

In this type of transaction, there is no investor, only notes.

It's... not an ideal situation and we're kind of working our way through the grieving process.

Worth noting that most firms will do two types of studies (although they may be named differently) - detailed engineering and modeling.

Lucrative STR's are some of the most desirable property types on the market (especially near the beach!)

with your criteria, why not just be an accredited  investor and get into some type of syndications?