There are definitely pros and cons to each so I figured I would just lay out a few benefits and personal thoughts: Small banks/brokerages:Pros:- Some regional knowledge of the market- Possibility of more creative lending guidelines with bank specific programs- Sometimes they have competitive rates for their areaCons: - weak balance sheet (more strict on some guidelines, no wiggle room, inability to be flexible or grant exceptions because they cannot afford to hold less than perfect loans)- Can't scale with clients to different markets- Usually limits exposure to individual investors (they don't want one investor to be too big of a portion of their balance sheet)- Lack of experience with multiple solutions (tend to have 2 or 3 loan products they sell and are too niche to provide tailored solutions)Large banks/brokerages:Pros:- Large compliance departments that understand individual market guidelines (typically each state has specific lending guidelines that augment the national baseline)- Ability to scale into multiple markets with same lender (licensed in many states)- Impossible for individual investors to "outgrow" a large bank's balance sheet (not concerned with one investor's concentration)- More lending solutions available for different scenarios- Often comparable or better rates given the game is volume basedCons:- Can be more difficult to get fast responses if the bank/brokerage does not have good follow up systems in place (or if the underwriting/processing staff gets overwhelmed)- Bad large banks can feel less like a relationship and more like a cog in a factory (less personal)Overall, I have worked from both and worked with both as a loan officer, branch manager, and as an investor/client myself. 

I haven't explored the market yet for that product.  

Hey @Anna Stohlmann - congrats, you've hit that point in your REI journey where traditional mortgage products will not work (unless you bring a ton of cash to the table to reduce LTV). 

A lot of old product tho so buyer beware.

However, the mortgage is not a commercial product and thus requires our personal names be on the title of the acquisition property. 

IF you think Carlisle will back their product and the job, then yes stick to a company that is on that list. 

We say we'll go 85% on that product, but honestly, it's hard to find a property that is that heavily leveraged where the rent equals or exceeds the mortgage principal, interest, taxes, insurance and HOA fees.

It's been 5 years since I used a Yardi product so not sure if they updated that.Not sure if you meant Yardi Breeze, I never even played with it. 

As far as tapping into the equity without doing a refinance, we offer some great HELOC products which are especially good for funding short term deals like ground up constructions or fix and flips.  

These include traditional rehabs to sophisticated market specific value adds.