My family made theirs in real estate (house hacking a private money funded 4 family when I was little) so two different philosophies.

You hit on a tough reality.. inheriting tenants who aren’t prepared to pay on time can be one of the biggest curveballs for a landlord.

The biggest employer shut down about a year ago and 3  hurricanes (2 major) hit directly in the last year.

They are sponsoring for the Non Recourse and it's up to the student to pull money from where ever they can pull it from, usually some kind of private lender 

The biggest issue I see is that they are looking to restrict STRs in the area so why would I buy there knowing it could all go away.

This is in a town that has a very good Private College - Baylor University.

The biggest drawback I see is that you are not in control, unlike owning your rental property.

Your comment does bias me slightly in favor of Indy, since at least we're talking about a manageable car ride.That said, I'd love to know the biggest mistakes you've seen - how do neophytes typically "crash and burn?"

pretty small hurdle to have a good win as a private lender just get paid as agreed.now equity participation loans those can spin the needle pretty well ..

having been around this bizz for decades now on the private lending side I will tell you many to most private lenders started in the mom and pop rental bizz tire of it and switch to be the bank.. and right now wih rates up there return would be quite handsome .. but you do need to use caution..