Hello All:First of all, thanks so much for all your help and encouragement!

It would be absolutely impossible for me to do that if I were still doing all of the work myself.I would strongly encourage you to follow your instinct to find good people to leverage.

@Will_Barksdale Very encouraging, thanks for sharing!

Patrick D.thank you for the follow up sir - truth be told, getting a loan was something I was considering, but no it wasn't something I had my mind set on and needed validation for - I can understand though why it may have seemed that way, but honestly, im still trying to weigh my options and determine whats bestI completely understand what you're saying about the field of being an agent is very difficult, especially in the beginning, and thankfully I've been fortunate to have the support/encouragement of my friends, family and the wonderful community here on BPit sounds cliche, but I sincerely do value all these responses and perspectives from all different types of people on here - you're words are much appreciated and will most definitely be taken into serious considerationas I said before, im still undecided in regards to method of paying for initial expenses, but im confident that ill be able to figure it out, especially now that I have the opinions and perspectives of all you guys on here.

We have a few friends in real estate who have encouraged us to do this on our own but a few have warned us of legalities and the issue of being unable to sell/buy a new home concurrently.

Hi Brooke, welcome to BP and getting into real estate investing.Ann got you the info for the Southern Maine REIA and I would also encourage you to look into it if you want to invest in that area.Are you looking to relocate to the area or just think that is a better area to invest in?

We are probably against the norm, but we encourage pet owners as tenants. 5 of our 6 units have dogs and it has been totally fine.

There fees seem very reasonable, very quick service, and also good referals to Lawyers etc....One thing I liked about them is they encourage 'checkbook control'.

An extra bonus is they will let me refinance as soon as the rehab is done to get my cash back out of properties and go to the next deal.So I would encourage you to find a local/ regional bank that will do the conventional mortgages to start with and then possibly switch you to portfolio loans.

My biggest encouragement would be not to overthink it too much.