Nobody around here lends at 11 percent, so why would I send money somewhere I can't drive to

A lender who works the next county over offered me a piece of a note at 11 percent on a 1950s three bedroom in a town of about 4,000. First lien, roughly 60 percent of a value I can argue with, and I can stand in the yard and look at the roof myself. Everything I read in this room instead points at pooled debt funds, which take the same kind of money and spread it over dozens or hundreds of loans in places I will never visit.

The fund case, as I understand it: one note is one bet, and if my borrower stops paying I own a foreclosure in a county where nobody wants that house at any number. Spread across a book, one bad loan is a rounding error.

The single note case: a fund is a stack of paper I have no way to verify, run by someone whose management fee shows up whether the loans pay or not, and my exit depends on whatever the redemption language says.

I have 30k sitting still. Both arguments sound right to me on the same afternoon, which usually means I'm missing something. For people who have done both, what actually settled it?