I'm looking at small multifamiles and won't have an issue with capital thankfully.I am in Arkansas and looking to stay local-ish initially.

So, we found a California based lender that we started working with, and got our initial approval with a few conditions (documents etc.) that they need, no big hurdles. 

This creates an initial negative equity position that consumes the initial cash flow, sometimes for many years.

The initial online material is $97 and the 3-day certification is $1,495 (after $1,000 discount), all which will be reimbursed with first few deals. 

The initial poster was pretty nasty and making a lot of inferences.

Their success depends on how much initial action they take to build their portfolio.

Upon arrival I noticed the curb appeal and thought it was overdone (of course, I initially didn't say anything to the owner).

In the multi unit buildings I put on lease "Each tenant shares responsibility for removing snow and salting on both walkways and sidewalk infront of property" and I have them initial before we execute lease.

It sounds like you have an un-permitted unit, which is essentially always a risk since there has been no notice to the AHJ that it exists and they can therefore initiate a code case to have it removed in most cases.

I've had a long career in community development and have a lot of bank contacts that would likely be interested in investing, but I'd need to prove the concept first with an initial fund (there are also a lot of other community development tools that could be leveraged to maximize and scale this).