A friend who happens to have a law firm (and who may become a partner one day) offered to send a letter through his firm on my behalf.

Unfortunately, many engineers/firms dont touch residential stuff...but then again some of us do.

He then recommended a firm that specializes in this and I had them provide an estimate for the work (it was 55-60k).  

No small freelancing tasks, but rather creating streams of income, solid business models, that can grow in the future.I am thinking of a marketing firm, developing apps, becoming a property manager, being a teacher on the weekends.Any feedback is great!

Repeated rounds of layoffs have occurred at most firms.

So I am looking to start a real estate investment firm.

Asheville has taken a pretty firm stance on vacation rentals.  

I would throw a "caution flag" by saying that there are still good management firms that are not NARPM credentialed.The reason I say this is because there are minimum unit requirements (500-Unit Years of experience acquired over a minimum of five consecutive years) that quite frankly plenty of PM companies will never hit.

Most MLS and brokerage firms have rules requiring all licensed parties (and sometimes relationships between them) be disclosed in the listing.

Is anyone aware of any firms or anything that will provide a 2nd mortgage up to let's say 80% LTV and 85% of total cost?