I definitely am focusing a lot of the effort toward "Curb Appeal".

Coupled with the custodian fees, the returns I could generate wouldn't be worth the headache.Prosper offers to pay all custodian fees if I invest it there, and because it takes little work, along with the ability to get descent returns, I decided to invest there.See here for lender return distribution: http://www.ericscc.com/stats/lender-return-distributionAs far as getting around usury laws, I'm not qualified to really have an opinion, but you can read about it here: http://www.prosper.com/legal/compliance/I completely agree that I can get less risky investments in real estate or even doing hard money, however, with the low amount of money that is in my IRA, its simply not worth my while to spend too much time or effort trying to deploy $5K.In a few years, after some more contributions, I may have a different attitude about it though.

Create “wrap-around” loan(s) to buyer where I get payments on the loan to reinstate the original bank loan plus some extra consideration for my efforts and the current owner gets the rest of the payments.

But In an effort to expand and take on more volume I have come to realize it is my only option for being able to hold more than 1 property at a time.

I hope you get some cash from your efforts.

Agents will generally want to be sure you're a serious buyer before they go through the effort of sitting up showings.

I realize that most here are young and starting out that the tendency of youth is to have it all now with little effort as if there are real secrets to making big money in RE.

Minimal repairs: 15k, ARV 100kAdd a bathroom plus necessary repairs, min-avg quality 30k, ARV 130kAdd bathroom, repairs, plus higher end stuff in bath and kitchen 45k, ARV 160kIf your numbers are reasonable, comps provided, one might expect buyers would enjoy working with someone who went through this effort... and look to do more business with you.

However, that means I need to make a fairly big effort to educate myself on what I need to do during this transaction.

In return, see if you can get a commission for any deals that come from your efforts $100-$500 for any deals they end up buying.