So if you have the time, energy, and inclination to be more hands-on, OOS investing becomes a bit trickier.

Do you have any advice, tips, strategies for creating such content?

That’s about itI have to buy some tshirt from a vendor to report to my business credit . they do customs stuff too. i was thinking instead of getting a bunch of plain tshirts . i got a "we buy houses" design made and was thinking of just putting them on tshirt hi viz green or orange. i did think man that is tacky but you know what im building my business credit profile (another way of funding) and im doing gorilla marketing tactics at least im trying. and who knows if you make it funny or something you can start a convo that can turn into a LEAD. 

Can we lower utility costs with energy efficient fixes?

Not only does that reduce energy costs, maintenance is also drastically reduced.

That said, does anyone have any tips for me? 

Any tips/ advice is greatly appreciated!

Can somebody PLEASE give me tips how you negotiate a homeowner down? 

Are there any tips the community would suggest I go about, or avoid considering the details above?

It has recovered nicely but that is something that may happen again.Note that the S&P500 in the past two years has been about 15% IRR so this is great for diversification and it may keep pace with the market in the long run but true full diversification is also important.Bottom line, as far as I am concerned, I would give a green light to Fundrise with the caveat of a reocmmendation to diversifying between multiple offerings (I like wide diversification for safety).