The Realtors behavior isn't acceptable by any means and isn't an indicator of how most professionals behave just like you have to dig a little to find a good deal, it sometimes takes a bit of digging to find a good Realtor.

If it wasn't, it'd mean that the buyer/lender would be having to pay interest to the borrower!

I would be having words with any realtor who sat there and said they would not take 15 minutes and write up an offer.

Your best bet would be to be prepared to offer a larger security deposit, focus on how well behaved your animals are (if they are well behaved), and I would definitely focus on SFHs, rather than multis or apartment complexes, because of the loud bird.In my specific situation, I may not have a problem with most dogs/cats, but I would never allow a tenant with a bird. 

I often find paper trails like a complaint the BBB get a business to start behaving on small items, though I've luckily not had to deal with an amount that large.

I am leaning toward setting up an LLC since we will be having others rent and I want to protect ourselves from possible litigation.

And the city was fairly well behaved afterwards.

So they must be having some success.

I guess my question is that would it people see it as a conflict of interest, and if so what conflict would it be? Have

These all would be have similar, separate protection as long as you accounted for them separtately and included the appropriate language in your formation documents.