It is more important now more than ever to have a transparent working relationship with a real estate agent who can listen to your wants and needs, adjust accordingly and negotiate effectively on your behalf. 

Appreciate it,  looking for good contacts and maybe even relationship or two in the real estate world. 

I can not express how significant the SKILLS OF NETWORKING & GENUINE RELATIONSHIP BUILDING have been in my real estate journey. 

This is the relationship piece that is missed by so many.

I Would Love To Meet And Build Relationships With Like Minded Individuals.

The LLC has nothing to do with this because you aren't getting a loan to a new LLC as a new investor with no track record unless you have a long-standing relationship with a local community bank or credit union.It's good that you have boots on the ground in Birmingham, but I can tell from the way you laid it out that you have done research online and made a plan based on this.

@Frank Jakubiec conduct some research and build relationships with local small banks who offer construction financing.

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 am forever grateful to Mike for that referral as I know I would never have landed this relationship without Mike making the intro the standing Mike also has with the bank ( Credibility).

Many experienced REI wouldn't throw down $5m unless you had a previous relationship with them or track record making money in those sized deals.