It puts unnecessary financial strain.

At some point, the scales will tip and then everyone left wants/needs to jump off in order not realize coming loses.It is a cycle, like most things in life, but one that can be avoided if you stick to what actually works rather than taking unnecessary risk just to force a deal.

It's not complicated and doesn't need a deep dive, just simple search terms........

I'm not in favor of the mortgage broker if your situation isn't complicated where you need their services and pay the broker fees. 

Quote from @Michael Plaks: @Jamie ParkerDrop trying to "think like a businessman", "reinvest in your business", "level up" etc - the fewer empty words you pollute your brain with, the clearer is your thinking.Solid advice - I think a lot of people try to make investing more complicated than it needs to be with uncessary jargon.Examine how you acquired property #1 and property #2See if there is anything that you can do to acquire more properties faster.

The deals I'm pursuing should work well regardless, but I'd like to shave as much as possible on the expense side (without taking unnecessary/ill-advised risks).If things take off properly we'll setup an LLC and move into a commercial loan portfolio for the long term, so I would be curious whether that helps/hinders options as well. 

We live in a very intersting, diverse, and complicated market and understanding the intricacies is very important - especially for a new investor.Markets in the same zip code even have their own submarket and tendancies depending on location and its important to look at things hyperlocally in philly.

If you do 203k loan (FHA renovation loan), you can wrap the reno into the loan, but it is a bit complicated on the back end with the draws to the contactor.You are using a lot of book words that may not go together in real life so you want to start going to meetups in Des Moines and meeting other investors so you can see what they have done.

Please note though this is an asset on your estate and if you have debts those also need to be resolved/paid which could complicate things - thus why I strongly recommend an estate planning attorney and a real estate attorney.

As you probably know commercial lending on CRE is not the easiest task right now, then add all the complications to it...foreign buyer, new LLC, new bank accounts, etc and that probably cuts out a lot of lenders who will be interested.Also find out what their goals are to determine if what they want is even feasible.