Most Mortgage Banks have the ability to broker some loans and attempt to call themselves Brokers now as consumers are getting smarter and starting to realize in most situations Brokers have better rates.

As your price is fixed, but rents appreciate, margin grows as long as you did things right and make sure expenses don't consume your margin growth. 

Because this is a new strategy for them, it likely means they have fewer options for construction loans due to lack of experience.

A landlord does not need to provide a reasonable accommodation for an emotional support animal when:The property is an owner-occupied building with four or fewer unitsThe property is a single-family home sold or rented by the owner without the use of an agentThe emotional support animal poses a risk to the health or safety of other people, or a risk of substantial damage to property (but this risk must be specific to the animal and cannot be based solely on assumptions about the animal’s breed)"Definitely have a chat with a local attorney to ensure your local laws apply, nonetheless since its an owner occupant, it sounds like you have some recourse to deny this request. 

It works over time, but the problem I see there is that you are consuming junk as well as having to make decisions on what is actually valuable information.There are plenty of opinions on how to do such on Bigger Pockets, but a lot of those opinions are misguided or wouldn't apply to you.You can do joint ventures with successful investors.

if your immediate area is too expensive, i'd pick a couple markets between 1 and 3 hours away, learn them, go to meetups, look at properties, get connected, research strategies, walk them, narrow down to 1, repeat, etc.and if that sounds like it's too time consuming or something you're not interested in... no worries. 

Since tenant selection is the most time consuming and highest risk activity, that may be a compromise to get you started.

Investors do this to protect themselves in the event the note goes into default, they can avoid a judicial foreclose (expensive and time consuming) and just take the property back, and resell it.  

The negative cost will be offset real quick by residents paying their own bill and consuming a lot less, and you don't have to worry yourself with billing them back.Gino

I had 10x fewer headaches but no more rent in my pocket.Based on what I have seen with deals being offered in the multifamily space (5+) units.