I'm guessing she has only dealt with single-family owner-occupied loans so it was all unfamiliar territory for her. 

my biggest fear in Real estate investing is the lunging dog.....not just being in a back yard, but particularly from being the unfamiliar face in the middle of a dead end neighborhood street....in NE Florida....a territorial dog is often loose,, or if charged up enough easily can snap the tethered tie leash or hop the small small fence...

New territory for me.

This leads you to overleveraging territory, so you ought to measure whether your dream factory job can support the maintenance of however many units you are looking to purchase on top of debt payments on both a HELOC and mortgage.

Lending Territory: If they are local lender then this is not an issue?

I guess it comes with the territory.

Not sure the territory that you cover but we are both on East Coast.

I was kind of a wreck the whole time, uncharted territory and the overwhelming impending feeling of loss can keep you up at night.

These types of posts always make me cringe a bit- when you start "picking" a tenant, you are in dangerous fair housing territory.

I believe these processes also depend on the location and whether the state and place is in judicial or non-judicial territory.