Friends who are heading up this project got me interested.

Quote from @Michael Nguyen: My friend and I are starting our real estate journey together as partners.

Can you recommend any investor friendly banks in the area for mortgage and quick refi? 

At a high level, this is generally the path people take - we see a lot of people have success in this route - start building the portfolio with banks, low down payments, and then **generally** when you hit around 5 or so properties - it starts to make sense to switch over to LLCs, its too hard to qualify/deal with paperwork of banks and switch towards private lenders like DSCR Loans - (LLC friendly, easier) to scale past 5 or so.

Until now, I’ve mostly shared this journey with close friends and family, but I’ve realized it’s time to open up and document this experience for everyone.

These loans are more flexible in some cases.As for banks in Cleveland, some of the more investor-friendly options to consider might include:Huntington National Bank - Offers business loans and could be open to working with foreign nationals investing through U.S. corporations.First National Bank - Another local option that has experience working with investors, especially through corporate entities.

I have a friend who has one in Florida where he doesn't have to do any repairs or maintenance to his unit.

Meaning are there states that are less friendly to lender / note owners?

Since your friend covers utilities, this offsets some of your cost.

You can write off everything still, its actually better if flip takes more then a year as you can make it look like a long term capital gain, need a investor friendly CPA who isn't afraid to do what gets you the lowest tax payments.