It could be that I was poor at articulating my vision (and goal) and/or perhaps I'm connecting with the wrong folks - ones' with a more traditional mindset/approach to real estate investing.

You're right, your vision of life is key in this business!

First, having the vision to see AND understanding what could be done with a property that numerous buyers overlooked caused me to act on this opportunity and purchase it.

Looking back with 20-20 vision makes it easy to see what you should have done, but keep in mind that one of the potential outcomes of diving into real estate deeper 15 years ago is that everything goes belly up and you lose the investment house that you currently own.

to do that is not lost on me.Once I get my feet wet with Multi-family investing, I plan on turning to development (new builds, residential conversion projects etc.) where some hard work and vision can create value.

I personally use First Vision, but Ascend, Reliant, Synergy also have good reputations.  7. 

You need vision, leadership skills and expertise.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated, it feels like we have this vision of exactly where we want to end up, but can't seem to see the first step right in front of us.

I've also asked myself if it would be worth going to a more peripheral market for better cash flow.

I'm looking at Visions FCU, Affinity FCU, or People's United Bank as they all seem to offer good heloc terms but can't know without experience what they are like to deal with regarding rental investments so if anyone has any feedback positive or negative I'd love to hear.