Other than that, which bank  to use depends on what features the banks offer and your personal preference.

Is there a way that you prefer (in which to approach to investors that you don't know to offer deals)?

I'm in process of looking properties in Indianapolis but properties I'm finding are very old & that is making me nervous - being out of state investor, I prefer to pick a property that might have lesser maintenance issues.So as you mentioned, I'm still analyzing and any suggestion from friends like you all are highly valuable - thanks!

The bank's preference on whether or not the buyer & seller use the information on the appraisal during their negotiations is irrelevant.

I haven't included any utilities in my rents i.e. the tenants have always I prefer separately metered properties. 

The moderators prefer we not dialogue too much in the general forums about local meetups around town to cut down on clutter and help curtail advertising in the general forums.That said, I facilitate a subgroup specifically for newer investors as part of our local real estate investor's association AZREIA.

However, the owner prefers going straight thru our lawyers.

@Tim @Tim HermanYeah the housing here has slowed down a bit, but it's also way too expensive for my taste right now for starting out.

I live in Maine, word prefer something online.

One alternative may be for your father to take a loan from his retirement account.In order to be able to do so you father would need to be separately self-employed (although not necessarily on a full-time basis as I know that he just retired).Regarding taking a 401k loan: If your father is self-employed with no full-time employees & he could set up a Solo 401k, rollover the funds and take a 401k loan from the Solo 401k.He can borrow up to 50% of the balance not to exceed $50,000.The repayment terms are equal monthly/quarterly payments (as you prefer) of principal and interest (e.g. prime + 1%) spread over a 5 year term (or longer if you will use the loan to purchase your primary residence).