Buy and hold, planning for a 2-5 year period.

@Dolly MarketakisDepending on state laws, if the SFH is going to be your own residence for a period of time, having it in an LLC may prevent you from enjoying full tax advantages of a home in your name, and sometimes, better protections.See: LLC vs Home exemptionsIn fact, I bought a business from someone in an S Corp., owner was sued for $3 million, and the S Corp only had insurance for $1 million.

:- Capital is tied up with an unknown repayment period and relatively low liquidity (I understand that liens can be sold/assigned, but I am not aware of any real secondary market for them).- Limit’s capital available for purchases of new liens this year.- Purchasing subsequent liens doesn’t improve rights to ultimately foreclose on the property as the senior lienholder would just pay off junior lienholders in the event of a foreclosure.Most of the institutional investors I have seen at the larger auctions were purchasing liens at a 5-6% premium last year (on a 9% note).

Period.

A good friend of mine just sold his rental and is in his 45 period and can't find much out there that is not over priced.

Remind him they signed a lease (what are the chances of the day getting sick to the extent that they have to move in that short of a period of time). 

@Josh Caldwell Josh, do you think hard money strategy can be employed for securing a multi unit (4 units residential) if secured with a HM lender who will refinance the original loan after a specified period of time?

What are the regulations for vacation home loans after a certain period of time?

Currently, you don't know what you don't know, so it might take some time to work out your deal criteria and market research...For instance, looking for a cash on cash return of 10% is a good goal, but what about appreciation, hold periods, unit type, unit class etc...how does the 10% COC tie into you personal goals for investing?

You would buy the home with 10% using hard money, improve it and refinance the existing lien using the new appraised value( will the lender allows using the new value on a R/T refi without a waiting period).