It’s also important to distinguish between those who are genuinely advising you and those who are selling you a service or product disguised as advice.I went to my first real estate conference in Atlanta in 2005.

If it is a high end housing product you may have to use a designer because they have access to some material/finish suppliers that are otherwise unavailable but that tends to only be for the highest end housing deliveries.

When you go to a Bank or Credit Union, they can only offer you what products that bank or credit union offer. 

Quote from @Andrew Steffens: I am curious what products exist?

Hello,I am a Software Engineer and a Real Estate Investor working on a tech product for the real estate mortgage brokers.

The idea is the product of an ah-ha moment late Friday afternoon as I was scrambling to put the pieces of this puzzle back together.

Yes, it's true that you might be able to find a product you need at a greater discount when a brand like Wayfair or CB2 is having a sale, but I've found that they truly do offer superior discounts at scale, even considering the fee. 

You could give them a thousand bad reviews, if they are the only person in town offering a specific type of product, people will still do business with them.

Also, I'm not familiar with their 2-year "teaser" product.

Here's an example: https://www.schlage.com/en/home/products/JDE265SUTFFFSTR.htm...