The cash-out refi necessarily means thousands of dollars in additional expenses - likely setting you back further than you went forward in mortgage pay down during the same time period if refinancing in 1-2 years - but hopefully earning more equity in the meantime (fingers crossed).  

I also learned that a down payment on a rental property does not count as an expense.

So, they should be able to provide proof of police report and acknowledgement letter from one of the credit bureaus.Cosigner: only idiots cosign and think it doesn't count against them.

Also, if I place bad tenants frequently, I can count on being fired, so what sense does that make to ruin my reputation and lose other business for half or 1 months rent commission?

Having to go back and forth to the property 5 or 6 times for things that could have been handled at the same time is rather annoying and that's not counting the fact the realtors have other appointments to get too or could have worked on other deals while the lender did what they were normally supposed to do etc.In my case I had an ideal deal that fit even their own requirement's, hence why I wanted to go with it.

One tidbit for your specs for your new loan - the new rental income on the property you're purchasing will be counted at 75%, not at face value.

PMC RECOMMENDATIONRecommend 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.

Would that count as representing yourself in the transaction since you aren't trying to be one of many wholesalers in a company or trying to primarily wholesale?

I do anticipate that the space will count as "finished" on an appraisal.

However, the "best" market is ultimately the one where you can assemble the strongest real estate investment team—that's what really counts!