I have used owner finance and hard money mostly to build my portfolio but need some institutional refi in the future.I'm also thinking about how this affects taxes, insurance.Thanks in advance for sharing your opinions!

Vivien - a 2-4 unit is great especially if you can owner occupy.

@Rafael Valdor some advice when screening PMCs-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

As the owner you get to call the shots on a few things. 

You paid the property owner $40,000 in rent.  

Possible to maybe build one similar to this with an add on for small business owners and REI's. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xYOKT2eNS588cj6_8jVv2vobAfAhCVUd/htmlview#gid=1221524195

Conventional non-owner occupied. 25% down.

They might refuse since you are not the owner.

I have also taken the relo rental option a few times as well, both as renter and as owner.

Life Changing is my go to now as their owners and 5 of their loan officers have even joined my group.