Treat lenders and brokers as partners in your team.

If you can make some relationships prior to that with agents in the area who do what you want to, you can find yourself on a team or at a strong brokerage that matches what you want to do.

I think we both agree that my team could have done better on the front end at setting your expectations from us on timing and availability of houses that meet your needs.  

I'd get better people on my team.

Which one do you have the most favorable information on based on their past rental history and not what they say.I suggest using a service like Mayistay.

Why pay rent when your landlord gives you free housing, free maintenance team, free mortgage, free electricity, free water, free trash?

RE Brokers in the area are a key team member as they should know the area, good rental areas, and they will be a good resource for rentals (possibly, if they deal in rentals).

This made sense to me at the time as I wanted to not only invest in myself, but also him and his team. 

We were discussing options for payment as we don’t have a lot of capital at the moment, however they have a property that has a bit of equity we could tap into, but they already have a favorable interest rate.

I've read through the notes on the conversations you had with my team as well as pulling real numbers on your maintenance and property turn costs and your lease terms.