I am currently about to re-read "the Compound Effect" by Darren Hardy, and just finished up the autobiography of ben franklin by... well, I can't recall who wrote that one.

I've got a wonderful career as an IT security consultant but I'm looking at real estate investing as a means to greater independence for myself and my family through the community's guidance, mentorship, potential brokerage, learning resources and potential for building long-lasting relationships.

I've been trying to research raw land loans and from the (granted few) banks I've spoken to, they will not loan on raw land-they recommend getting a personal loan out at a ridiculous rate 10-15% interest (they didn't run my credit, it was just an estimate for a personal loan, but I have very good credit-around 760 I believe), to cover the land and then refinance to a construction loan once there is a well and septic as I understand...So was wondering what other options I had as far as financing and what others have used?  

We completely renovated the property over the past 6 years and just finished, with a cost closer to $275-300/SF doing most of the finish work and demo myself.I would caution against doing work from afar.  

This will provide me the opportunity to finish my Business degree.

Wondering where I'd need to be to make money on this........area is starting to turn around but at this price or even 10% less it still doesn't seem to work.  

Off the cuff, my guess is the spa/jacuzzi is worth it, the pool may or may not be, would be need more info on the location and finish quality to speculate.

I was wondering about the 10% borrowing rate in year one.

I was just wondering if I other people felt like things have slowed down or If I'm just not being patient enough.

So does sophisticated investor mean "everybody on the planet other than accredited investors" or are there other requirements.If i'm understanding correctly I would scour bigger pockets forums, find the people talking about syndication, contact them directly to ask if they have x of 35 slots remaining for sophisticated investors, then put in 100,000 and collect 8% a year on it.I dunno for me personal i'd rather use the 100,000 for a leveraged investment townhouse or something in the neighborhood of the new amazon HQ2.Also makes me wonder where do accredited investors go to find a directory of these offerings to jump in to?