Personally, as a buyer I would limit the time frame until I had a solid relationship with the realtor.  

Your strategy of partnering for the down payment is exactly what I’m working toward—leveraging relationships to make things happen.

Generally:--better rates--local relationships--local decisionsAs I said: generally.

You're smart for recognizing the importance of building relationships...very few wholesalers in my area understand this. 

The company I worked for even had a relationship with the property manager.

@Cynthia Lee Depends on your jurisdiction, your relationship with the tenants, and your end game plan.

I’m always open to learning and building strong, mutually beneficial relationships in this space.Looking forward to hearing from you! 

Plus, no matter what happens Mark is my guy down there and I told him if I ever made a personal comment about his relationship, to tell me to stick it.They always lock the gate at night so no one can drive on to the property and to keep the guard dogs in.Later while my wife and I were driving and checking our storage units, I called Mark to re-iterate we had heard about this and to let her know we will never get involved in their affairs.He said. 

The combination of OOS + S8 is toxic.

I definitely agree with your sentiment regarding borrowing from family/friends, and I don’t want that kind of strain on my relationships.