I think a great strategy would be to find someone who would like to house hack with you, and maybe even someone with a bit of experience local to the area that you trust and know very well to go in on the deal with you.  

Any general advice for someone starting out in a partnership and looking to grow a portfolio?

If the agent is their own broker and a sole practitioner then you need someone else to decipher the agency relationships that may or may not exist.

I'd price out different layouts and find someone like an architect who specializes in this. 

How I would go about it is bring a deal to someone ( a friend or colleague) that I knew had money, offer them the terms I have in mind and continue until I find one.

I know many of these services seem shady, but once you vet them out you'll find someone legitimate that can give you the full run down.

Either you're going fix it or someone else will, but you'll pay them for the privilege.

@JD Martin agree 10,000%What I am surprised about is I had a call with someone in Austin today and in sw Florida and they both said things are awful and prices are dropping at high rates - curious don't hear as much chatter here about that as it could be an opportunity 

Things that could get in the way im putting out there now to make sure no surprises after someone does the work to get me quotes- New York State - Appraisal will barely be past 100k if that- 98% of my income comes from my rental portfolio (thats a new fun rule (to me) I just learned about)- Prefer something without a ton of fees and such.

It's easy to find someone who had one bad experience with any lender, but I can easily say 99% of my experience with Easy Street has been very positive.