This has the dual benefit of helping you stay informed on what’s going on in your local market and knowing all the new members who introduce themselves from College Station, and also every single one of those 660 posts is now an “SEO” post - every time someone googles a thread that’s come up, your name and business appear in these forums, alongside your quality answers. 

There are some great Local Meetups up in BR and NOLA.

Your credit score (672) is a bit on the lower side, which may also be contributing to the higher interest rate and cost.Have you looked into working with private lenders or small local portfolio lenders?

Starting my 1st 1031 exchange and contacted a local company that had posted on BP several times.

How much more contingency do you have to work withI do not know the local market, but what are the comparable with the STR market to this place.

Locals referred to it as " Slide Hill " https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_Oso_landslide

Start networking locally where you're at by attending some real estate meetups - just google it to find them.

If you want to network or ask specific questions about your local market, go to your local real estate forum and connect with investors from your area: https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/86-local-real-estate-networking5.

I want to set up meetings with local lenders but want to have my ducks in a row first. 

You can google how to do it but local hardware store should have all the tools you need.