typically no special license is needed when doing it for hard money loans that I am aware of. there may be states like california and nevada that are tricky where lenders need a license of some sort but for most part brokers i have seen are not licensed. 14 or 15 states require state license and NMLS registration.

Without accounting for management fees (I have not yet decided if I will try to self manage), and with planning to raise rents to typical market of $825 for each of the smaller units, and $1200 for the larger unit, does this seem like a worthy first investment? 

@Kris Lou Be careful with agents as 95%+ of them really only know how to handle owner-occupied transactions.We don't do biz in Indianapolis, so this is unbiased info we hope you find useful:Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Typically 75% of rental income can be applied towards your DTI for qualification. 

Typically the first set of tenants I screen are the ones who end up in the unit due to prescreening activities like my application and making sure I meet them.

That being said real estate investing is typically a long game and with just 2 years under your belt you’ve just started.

Quote from @Michael Challenger: I have no qualms with hard money lending, but I need to learn more about the process and structure to these for typical deals so that I am more comfortable and in a position to reduce my personal risk and risk to investors as much as possible.

if so does anyone know how much is the typically LTV you can takeout?   

@Augusta Owens here's some copy & paste info you won't find in a book:)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

We saw huge appreciation in the 2018-2022 inflation run up, but that has significantly slowed these days in my opinion.From a rental perspective your monthly income per unit after all expenses with a typical 20% down payment is likely $100-300 when you find a property that will cash flow.