Nothing I'm aware of bars attorneys from drafting, reviewing, and advising on promissory notes, but loans used for household purposes typically now require it to be finalized through a licensed broker with specific disclosures.

I am specifically looking for companies with a proven track record of transparency and competitiveness in their fee structures and excellent customer service.

I checked the files section here on BP but nothing specific to Virginia. 

I'm not sure of the custom in your market, but here in Baltimore we typically only use a specific "appraisal contingency" for cash deals.  

You can also search through older forum posts to see if anyone else has posted on a topic or area that you are interested in.I would try to be as specific as possible when posting on these forums. 

I'm not sure on the specifics of the particular market you're looking at but I would never pay 100k for something only bringing in $700 n rent.

Infact, I will be using Roofstock as a benchmark for much of this process and show you how you can easily get the deal that is on roofstock, before it got their with the sellers markup.It will be hyper-specific about one specific end to end process to end up with a  cash flowing rental property purchased directly from the MLS using a hard money acquisition and then refinancing into traditional bank financing after seasoning. 

However, given that there are state-specific laws and nuances that tend to change somewhat frequently, the optimal situation would be to find a real estate knowledgeable accountant (and preferably an investor him- or herself) based in your home state of Massachusetts.

When you first started was there a specific strategy or niche that you used?

Several Pensacola active duty military on here that can talk more specifically regarding your situation.