But wanted to ask here what other people have done or if you have any ideas.

After punching your rental income from tax returns MOST people more or less break even ion a rental.

If yes, then the other partners can just do a JV agreement internally which you can record at closing that allows you to still “partner” up on it but allowing the lender to still be protected if anything goes wrong with the deal or people borrowing. 

I do not know how they are handling new customers verse the Midland existing customers.Regarding the customer service it seems the people I dealt with are still employed and only my "personal rep" as it were, was promoted and another took her place.

We are currently working with our lawyers to take next steps and get our money back along with damages due to wasted time and investments we missed out on along with other people who they have done this too.

I still think that the appreciation question boils down to the "Do people with options want to live here?"

Three Months ago, low to mid 6's were available.Rates are going to continually fluctuate but if you have a way to earn 10+% on your capital, the TIME you are not using it is going to cost you way more than the extra .5% per year will.You are walking over dollars to save pennies if you are waiting for the perfect rate, half of the people who held out on getting mid 6's were waiting for high 5's.

It is big but I am hearing now people want dishwashers and w/d in units.

I am not going to deep dive here.I usually lose these sorts of deals to people willing to underwrite more aggressively. 

Also, I’ll be in the area for the next two weeks and would love to connect with people in person.