It seems like a hard money lender typically a private individual or venture firm) would be the only route to go since they are a little more lax on lending requirements than a conventional lender.

I looked up their address and it was to a CPA firm in IL. 

We have some firm rules.

(In TN, a PM firm may be owned/run by an unlicensed person - as long as there is a licensed broker registered for it with TREC.

I have aspirations to want to become a real estate investor one day but would love to learn the game through working for an investor or investing firm of some sort but I know for a fact that I don’t want to become a realtor.

Unless there is a firm job offer at the other side of my military obligation, paying down a mortgage is not a good use of my funds because I can’t access that money again.  

When a demand letter from a firm goes out, it changes the game from checkers to chess. 

Perhaps, this is the "big boys" room (big girls too) and it is your firm belief that your statements push people to greatness. 

We firmly believe that waiting passively will not yield results.

But once you get a property under contract an good insurance carrier can get you a firm quote pretty quick.