He hinted that I could maybe do it, but I wouldn't be paid much.

As @Russell Brazil hinted at it might be hard for us to know the exact reasons but I'll take a stab at a suggestion:  If you are buying and holding a 1-4 unit property as an investment then you should be able to receive a "conventional" loan with a 30 year fixed rate.  

I would be traveling from northern Canada so would love to get the most out of every minute if anyone has any suggestions or hints from past BPcons that would be great thanks. 

-Whatever you think that you should have done to prevent this, make a note of it for the next hint that you get of a situation with one of your properties going left.

There would be no broker involved, but you’d certainly want to obtain all your paperwork from an attorney and vet this process through him or her.4)You could do with whatever you wish with your personal loan (Hint: Like lend it out again on more property and borrow against that note, etc., etc.)5)Don’t even think of borrowing from more than one person, giving them a pro-rata share of the collateral on one note.

He also dropped a $500 reference (and I got the feeling he was hinting to me, but I'm no where near positive).I followed up by sending him some comps of properties that I've bought in the area that justified our purchase price.

I think he was hinting to the advantages of spreading costs across many units with Multi family.

If you do get a new appraisal, when the appraiser shows up give them your CMA analysis and in a tactful way hint that you've done your work and know what it should be worth.

The answer to that will likely be revealing (hint: if they say there’s no time for that or make excuses, pressuring you to move quick, that should tell you everything you need to know.

@Gita Faust , any hints in the right direction would be greatly appreciated