No personal income or tax returns are required.

I purchase my personal investments to maximize their equity and hold long term.

For funding, explore options like FHA loans, personal savings, or creative financing, and focus on New Jersey markets that align with your goals, such as Newark for rentals or commuter towns for house hacking.

Living in one unit and renting out the others allows you to deduct 75% of expenses like mortgage interest, property taxes, insurance, and shared repairs as rental expenses, while the remaining 25% applies to personal use.

I am still personally buying rentals but I am not expecting much in the way of cash flow at the moment.

One of them I have used personally. 

We're based in Tampa and, in addition to personally investing, I own a mortgage company that provides financing for tons of investors.

Welcome to Bigger Pockets @Joshua KeimAs a fellow Memphis native, I’d love the opportunity to connect in person and discuss strategies with you!

can anyone you know in person vouch for this lender? 

If you need more to do the rehab, perhaps instead of partnering, you could get your former boss to do a personal loan.