Is the rural version of a qualified opportunity fund really the better deal?

Taking the fees first, since that's the part you can actually compare across funds. A QOF, a qualified opportunity fund, is just an investment vehicle that elects to hold at least 90% of its assets in qualifying opportunity zone property. It charges what any sponsored real estate fund charges, and the layers you found are the standard ones.

An acquisition fee is a one-time charge on each property the fund buys, often quoted as a percent of purchase price. An asset management fee is annual, usually a percent of committed capital or of assets. Carried interest is the sponsor's share of profits above a hurdle, so "20% over an 8% preferred return" means you get the first 8% a year, and above that the sponsor keeps 20 cents of every dollar. Then there are fund expenses, audit, tax preparation, K-1s, and the new QOF reporting the law imposed. Those get charged to the fund, not billed to you separately, and they show up as a drag on your return. Ranges vary widely by sponsor, so ask for a written estimate of total annual expenses as a percent, and ask what it was last year in dollars.

On rural, the law did add enhanced incentives for rural zone investment, including a lower substantial improvement threshold and a larger basis benefit. The exact figures and how they apply to a given fund are a question for a tax professional and for the fund's own counsel, so get that in writing rather than from a meetup.

Smaller deals don't reliably mean smaller fees. Fixed costs like audit and tax work spread across less capital, so the expense ratio on a small rural fund can be higher than on a big one.