And invited me to his Christmas party talk about a duck out of water..

As everyone has mentioned, there are numerous pitfalls to consider.

If you really cannot choose then I really like his suggestion of the first broker that responds from one of your numerous cities "wins".Enter @James Wise He is from Cleveland give him a shout and pick his brain a bit.

This causes an overrepresentation of bad experiences online (this can be seen in google comments about almost every restaurant, even if the place is stellar there are numerous one star reviews.

I agree with these guys, I've never had luck cash-out refinancing for numerous reasons.Also, in my opinion some of the most brain damage from deals is the financing, so I prefer to only go through it once :) 

After trying and failing numerous other ways to get one of these homes- I walked into the office of one of the more popular realtors in the area.

@Henry LiChi I believe @Kevin Gray has numerous clients in the SoCal area.

I appreciate the invite. 

They now have numerous locations in roughly 20 states.

and it seems to me google campus abuts the landfill..probably not an issue for this person being on the other side of the freeway.. it is amazing how much gets dislosed in a CA transaction these days.. also while I got you on the line I had dinner with my buddy who has the container home building company you have a standing invite to tour on your next trip north.. !!!