I think you're gonna see a lot of deals underwater trading before year end, with banks trying to clean up their balance sheets.5.5% with 25% down is a very competitive rate.

This was a conference for mostly private equity firms that raise money for and invest in large multi-family deals, and truthfully I felt a little out of my depth.

Keep your cash and only invest in deals that your exposure isn’t more than 10%A rule that has always worked for me is to never try to make a deal be a deal.  

And what company/bank do you think gives the best opportunity/deal all things considered?

How do real estate investors handle the financial gaps when buying a new property before the previous one sells? I'm exploring different funding solutions to understand how others manage these situations. Let's discus...

As @Robin Simon noted this deal is going to be too small for most DSCR lenders as their min loan size on these are $250,000-$500,000If the property is not rural and you need to do a DSCR based loan, I have an option with a minimum loan amount of $100k however the rate will be in the double digits. 

However, one has the credit score while the other has the rehab IQ… how would you structure the deal between two partners for starting out?

This is because Mortgage backed securities are in direct competition with investors looking for "safer" investments backed by the full faith of the United States Government. 

Buyers are taking advantage of opportunities, with the median sale price increasing by 3.2%, now sitting at $640,000.But cash deals are down—just 21.6% of homes were paid for in cash, a 22.8% decrease from last year.

Partnering for larger deals can help buy larger properties.