From what I have researched they seem legitimate but the person I am working with is flakey, takes forever to answer questions so I thought I would see if anyone else had experience with this lender.  

Completely agree and wouldn't normally purchase a rental in these markets personally.  

I was very pleasantly surprised.I also built a tool myself, I had a lot of issues finding service person for different repairs need.

Just my personal experience.

Hi @Ryan Kinoshita,I personally recommend Chase business for a few reasons: Really easy to work with, really good sign on incentives for both their accounts and business credit cards, and there are branches all of over the country making it easy to handle your business from anywhere.

Personal use - if you or your family used the property for personal purposes, you will need this to factored in. 

Hey BP,Looking for some great websites to use to gather information on different markets, especially OOS investing...One of my personal favorites is "City-data.com", which was also suggested to me by a fellow BP investor!

.: I'd be tempted into doing an STR (maybe with a higher down payment to ensure cashflow, just run ROI numbers) or an apartment complex - I personally wouldn't mess w/ small stuff.

Some people love that as the initial numbers look good, but probably over the long term they get tired of the common issues landlords face.It's not that hard typically to find a move in ready property, or even to find one that needs minor repairs, where you can capture the equity yourself vs the person selling it to you. 

You’re going to deduct the rental mortgage interest against your rental income and your personal mortgage interest (if allowed and more than standard deduction) against your regular income.