Don't expect rates to come down. 

What areas do you find the best ROI on your flips?

You're giving up some good tax benefits since you're in the tier of taking itemized deductions.

I did attend a local BP meet up for a while.

@Paul Choate sends out the 'invite' each month so you can follow him, or try setting up a keyword with 'OKC' or 'Oklahoma' and it will pop up in your feed.

Then I would either go to your GC with the info, or go directly to your subs (licensed electrician etc.) with the info.

The markets open up if you are not planning on doing the management yourself.There are many markets that are growing in population and jobs throughout the country if you are willing to look at OOS investing. 

Generally, when people "make it" they want to share their good fortune with others and they understand that whatever they give freely comes back to them tenfold.

This would hopefully maintain strong cashflow from the property will providing some capital to use for the next property acquisition. 

When you finance through national lenders, in your experience, is a balloon a common requirement for commercial loans of this nature or is it possible to get a fixed rate for 30 years?