This way both of your baskets are building.I think you should keep it!

Being a landlord is no basket of roses, high stress, high risk, late night calls, late rent payments, sleepless nights, tenant evictions, court appearances, tenant damage etc, etc, 

Make sure you provide value to them first and this way a fruitful relationship will develop. 

Competitive markets will make it very difficult to find long hanging fruits. 

As long as your profits are not primarily the fruit of someone else's labor, you should be good to go.

Make sure it is someone who has fruit on the tree and should be giving you advice, and not someone who is qualified because he failed several times (and never succeeded) at what you're trying to do.  

If you go this route then you'll know that you'll be putting all your eggs in this one basket, preparing yourself like a buy & hold gladiator over the next year on tenant screening, rehabbing (so you can get in those units and force appreciation) and analyzing deals so you can buy the right multi.If you go this route then you won't really get distracted by managing two different properties and trying to scale too quickly.Option 2: If you decide to go with this route you have several different steps that you have to take before you get to your desired end result.

Good luck and may the year of 2017 be a fruitful one!

For example: the borrower claimed $40,000 a year of income as a seasonal fruit harvester.

While a few of us have been successful with 1 provider, it seems the moral of the story is don't put all your eggs in 1 basket.