Unfortunately, I do own investment properties abroad that are still financed, so any lender that has experience with this would be much appreciated, the lack of experience in that regard has been a painful, and long underwriting process at first when I bought and then again when I refinanced my home a few years ago...

It is a pain but not insurmountable. 

The pain is removing all HVAC, plumbing & electrical so you can sister or replace a beam or joist and then put them all back in.

Those landlords sometimes feels the pain managing property outside the state.  

Simple solution: Inform them that unfortunately you can’t accept ESA letters without being able to verify the validity of the letter by speaking with the local licensed mental health professional who prescribed them their ESA, so that you can verify that they have a legitimate disability requiring an ESA as well as that whoever prescribed it to them is a real licensed mental health professional who has an ongoing relationship with them beyond just receiving a one-time payment to “prescribe” the ESA. 

@Neal Daftary-I think self-managing a duplex from 1.5 hours away is going to be a huge pain.

I asked my roof contractor to remove the skylight and replace it with a normal roof as well (which he did a few days back).My tenant is saying to the PM that he is getting medical testing done now due to mold related health issues.

Which ones are the most painful?

With fees and points and so on, their money cost me 16%, and it was a total pain to refinance to a 5% conventional mortgage.If you are going to do a deal which involves buying a house for $50k less than market price, then paying Eastside $10k to expedite the closing is totally worth it.Eastside funding are good people, and they provide excellent service. 

*Listen for pain points.- Timeline.