People don't realize the amount of wealth that is flowing to Miami.

Why do you need 15 people to move forward ?

The contractor will give you better pricing the more you use them, some GCs increase their price, but those are the ones you would like to not use (side note, of course with inflation you need to pay your people right, but it needs to be reasonable).

You'll meet a bunch of fellow capital region investors and people who can help.

James Wise is one of the most honorable people in the business.

Since you recently purchased, yours was reassessed at todays values and theirs are still working off assessments from years ago (possibly) and the people you bought from likely had an old assessment as well.

The bank people are either the least stable or get paid irregular. 

The problem (as you have cited) is trying to understand what you need (you don't know what you don't know), where to get it, qualifying its source(s), and the validity and usefulness of all that.Pardon me if I've gone into this too much, but I meet many people with the same concerns that you are voicing and this is offered, as much as possible in direct response to your post.Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or questions. 

Quote from @Austin Wolff: Hey Kegan, I published on article on BiggerPockets specifically to answer this question for people like you (and selfishly for myself):The 10 Best Markets for Your First House HackNone of the states you mentioned are on this list, however.

I guess my problem with being too up front about seeing their place is that I don't feel like I'm in a position of power right now to decline people since it's hard enough to find people that I want to even get to that point in the application process in the first place, but I have to snap out of that mindset and have to instead come from a place where I make them believe that I have a lot of other applicants and that it's my standard policy and it's something they'll have to go through if they want my place.....ESPECIALLY if I decide to only take 1st & security from them rather than 1st/last/security.Thanks again!