I’m a native Houstonian, and have been self-employed (direct sales) since 2010. 

I personally would only employ this tactic If I had the funds to make good on the loan if called. 

Greetings, My wife and I are coming up on a time of transition in our lives, from full time employment to investing in notes, funds, etc. 

Don't over leverage yourself, have a healthy reserve fund, underwrite conservatively, and make sure you're in a market with strong employment.

One book I just read was entitled something like "How to Buy and Sell apartment buildings and it good stories about buying and selling middle-sized apartment buildings (around 100 units) and Partnerships.The Partnership he liked then was called "Tenants in Common'  where you could still control the investment and how you could keep control of a property and have a part of it with 1% and have separate agreements with each partner's participation. 

Here are a few for you:Pros- Online account access- Online payments- Prompt responses to e-mails and voicemails- Good criminal background and credit checks- Actually calling past landlords, employers, etc.Cons- Charging a credit card processing fee- Lack of advertising (e.g. only posting the rental on the company website)- Lack of communication during vacancies (e.g. not providing me with updates on repairs, tenants applications, etc.)- Only using in-house maintenance (e.g. if your one guy can't get to something for a couple weeks then hire a contractor)

I want to use a method that will approximate what a bank's appraiser will use, but I don't know what technique such a person would employ.

There is a whole industry now in selling C and D stuff to out of staters who commonly lose their money. 

@Sara Taslitt Ask lots of questions about protected classes and "testers".There are lots of ways to get snagged in a sting, where the state employs testers to try to trip you up. 

Here's my situation, I live in LA so the housing market is bonkers, a $1.6 mil teardown getting multiple offers the first day on the market is common.