The last lender I’ve tried to get a pre-approval had a, imo, patronizing response saying,”Although lots of people talk on social media about buying a three or four unit property with only 3.5% down in practice it almost never works.”All lenders who I’ve tried to give a pre-approval for has tried to sway me to switch to a 5% conventional instead.

What is the current status?

But, I also think the access to information today: all the books, these forums, conferences, gurus on social media...  

The current status of the market is low end rentals land lords that let the houses look like crap. 

Down payment funds may seem tricky to those who get lured in by the countless con artists on social media selling the notion 100% financing using other people's money is easy.

@Chantelle LewisRecommend exploring as many sources as possible to get referrals AND cross-reference them to get as much accurate information as possible.Check out NARPM.com, BP’s Property Manager Finder (BiggerPockets: The Real Estate Investing Social Network), etc.Also, encourage you to learn from the mistakes of others - by reading posts here on BiggerPockets about owners not having their expectations met by their current Property Management Company.

So I contacted the tax collectors office and was told there was a legal loophole and that since the building had been owned by a non-profit for part of the year it would receive tax exempt status for the full year.

You will not only achieve a status upgrade in the market of RE investing, you are given the opportunity to have the knowledge to back it up.

I'm in a number of social groups for private lenders and have run into a lot of scams.

Targeted marketing would come via social media, which is usually priced on a $ per impression or $ per click basis.