@Susan Perry  your accredited investor I would surmise... take a look at the crowd funding portals out there  I like Realty Shares and Realty Mogul ... both of them have 1st trust deed investments that you can put small amounts into.. to test the waters on debt investing. for as little as I think 5 to 10k you can do a trial without spending a bunch of money you can then see how debt deals are structured and get your feet wet.. these usually bring in about 8 to 9% or a little better.. first position TD's.. local HML will usually pay a little more.But for an experiment and something you would not loose sleep over you may want to give it a shot.. 

@Eric ClifftI love the fact that you are methodically & creatively designing your marketing strategy.Direct mail marketing traditional results dictate that response rates should be higher on a piece addressed to a specific person vs. anything that may resemble junk mail like a general mailing to "resident" or equivalent.However, higher response rates do not necessarily=higher profit.Run a split test on both methods to determine the profitability of each lead, not just response rate.  

I'd pressure-test the tub spout, like you uhave.  

That's not good enough for a capital intensive business such as real estate.

No better way to test your knowledge than to try to share it!

If you have to make a grouping election to satisfy the material participation test, then that can impact your ability to deduct the suspended losses.

after due diligence (soil tested, surveyed, etc. ) what are homes selling for in the neighborhood? 

It has been battle tested in many court rooms already.To your successJosh

When I did a test on a living room and invited a number of people for an opinion the white was universal across the board liked by all.  

The plan is to find a place to rent month-to-month while I intensely look for a job.