I've always thought it's a lot easier to do business with someone local who knows your market better and may be able to bend a little for you (as opposed to national or multi state lenders).

If you have investors that want to earn immediate gains then go find a property to flip.Then you can continue to look for new investors geared towards wanting an income stream as opposed to a relatively shorter term gain.Finding investors who trust you is hard enough and since it appears you may have you should consider altering your investment strategy to accommodate their needs and wants.

I am getting the feeling that these banks would rather me own 40-50 SFH in a secondary market somewhere as opposed to only a dozen in NY.

(Assuming that they put rigid insulation boards down under the rubber roof, as opposed to taking down the ceiling of all of the upstairs apartments, installing R20 insulation between the ceiling joists, and then reinstalling drywall, texture and paint.

as opposed to 1 vacancy in 20 and you realize it's empty 4 months later,  so to speak 

The only advantage I can see to individual sheds as opposed to self storage steel and masonry buildings is that you can scale slowly, by buying new sheds only as you need them.In every other way, cheap wooden sheds are going to be inferior to a storage building, and that will probably be reflected in the rent you can charge.

In senior communities many purchasers will want the homes to be in move-in ready shape, as opposed to handyman specials.With all of this said if the homes are good sizes (ideally 14 feet wide and good sized bedrooms) and do not need more than a few thousand dollars in work, then they may be good opportunities to purchase and resell.

At the very least it will usually get the tenant to call in advance of the 1st the next time they can't pay on time, as opposed to avoiding you until they have the rent.  

Keep in mind creative investing has a very steep learning curve as opposed to tradional investing.

I'm not opposed to creative financing, but it is far easier to profit on 30-year fixed loans (big, national lenders) rather than 15-year variable loans from a local lender.