Why would you literally wait until the last minute, when a flat tire or difficulty finding a parking space be the difference between keeping and losing your home?

Our strategy is to buy out of shape properties and rehab them back into shape, so a GC with experience in doing extensive renovations at once would be preferred.

One strategy is to pursue properties (in your preferred markets) that have been listed for sale for over 90 days (even longer is better).

That doesn't mean you're left behind it means you'll need a different strategy that than someone you started 1,3,5,10 years ago. 

@Jonathan Blanco, I'm and investor and a licensed mortgage broker so I've been on both sides of this conversation.I would look for a lender that (1) listens to you and understands your strategy and needs (hint: it's not always money), (2) has experience working with clients executing your strategy and brings more to the table than just cash - be it advice, relationships, deal-team partners, etc., (3) gives you viable options and explains the pros and cons of each option and (4) you enjoy interacting with - this should be a relationship, not a transaction.Once you find a few lenders like this (and you should have relationships with more than one), then you can start comparing rates and fees.

I work mostly with investors doing just what you are seeking, the BRRRR strategy.

Real Estate is a large asset class that has many different strategies inside of it. 

I literally laughed through the phone at his suggestion, because I was broke, in debt, and in every way and unqualified borrower, and the lending environment in 2012 was probably stricter than it had been since the invention of the 30yr mortgage.

This seems like a no-brainer to me and fits well into a vertical integration strategy (I'm also thinking about managing other people's rentals as even more vertical integration (aka side money).  

The strategy was built on sand.