I continuously refer people in my network to these lenders as well, so I am interested in possibly supplementing my investment income by brokering some of these loans.

We have an investment property that HUD supplements the rental income.

@Chris Lopez has an outstanding podcast called the Denver Real Estate Investing Podcast, which has loads of excellent  information to supplement all of the great content on BiggerPockets!

Rents have crept up, but remain very low Tenant profile is regressing as well, with poverty rates going up, more households reporting using SNAPS (supplemental nutrition assistance program) year over year, and a general decrease in number of individual with college degrees in the area. 

I supplement data with my own research and also use Evolve.com.

We're generally using hard money financing as a supplement to our OZ equity for the upfront purchase/substantial improvement, and then putting long-term financing in place once renovations are complete.  

I could afford a downpayment for an FHA at 3.5% but I don't think I can be approved based on my income limitations- not sure what the other units are renting for and how that might supplement the loan qualification part. 

@Matthew Fitzgerald you can either refi to take out the equity and deploy it into another emerging market or possibly get a supplemental loan if the refi wouldn't be the best option.

Seems like you have a good grasp on market research, nonetheless here are a few metrics you can add to your search: - rental vacancy rate  - homeowner vacancy rate  - poverty rate - education attainment rate (high school/GED & Bachelors)   - number of housing unit - household income - rent to income ratio - rent to price ratio - population on SNAPS (supplemental nutrition assistance program) percentage  - prop tax rate  - median age of buildings - number of structures by units (SFR, duplex, tri, quad, etc

Making the right choice for a brokerage I think is a big deal and I have noticed many in my experience that have said otherwise don't seem to do this for a career, lots of people (again in my experience) that complain about commission splits and brokerages not mattering to them are just here to sell their friends and family deals as a supplemental income.