Hard money lenders are much more like banks and come with many restrictions, requirements, due diligence, fees, etc.

This apartment required a cosmetic renovation that is going to run me around $27,000 to redo.

What documents do they require, what credit scores do they allow, how do they verify previous rental history, etc.?

Another must have requirement is to have positive cash flow.

Purchase price: $275,000 Cash invested: $45,000 Sale price: $410,000 Contributors: Adam Schooley This townhouse, which had gone through probate, suffered from significant water damage to the drywall and required updates throughout.

Purchase price: $275,000 Cash invested: $45,000 Sale price: $400,000 Contributors: Adam Schooley This townhouse, which had gone through probate, suffered from significant water damage to the drywall and required updates throughout.

Because of my savings and lack of expenses, I'm in a very comfortable position to make my first move, but because my income is mid, I'm unable to meet the Debt-to-Income requirements to qualify.

If you meet that requirement, I highly recommend it. 

They/you can't choose the carrier - their software assigns it.Fortegra is one of the carriers (paper in insurance parlance) that their product is written on.That said, Fortegra is A- rated I believe by AM Best so that isn't the issue.I'm going to take a guess and say that your umbrella is written with PersonalUmbrella.com (Markel) and they require all underlying insurance to be A-rated but also with an admitted carrier. 

His name is Dalton Godson with Nexa Mortgage and we're using a UWM product.If you’ve found a lender willing to work with smaller loan amounts, what were their requirements and rates like?