If not, I'll likely have to stick with Turo for the convenience. 

Alternatively, I could stick with the hard money loan and refinance into a conventional loan later.I would appreciate any suggestions or advice on this decision.

That’s not how I do my business.Should I pull the property off the market and stick with him and deal with the vacancy when it actually happens?

Or it may turn out you just like to stick to the first strategy you choose. 

I think we will stick to this route.  

Red Stick REIA is probably the largest, and The RING is the other.

At the same time, we don’t have much experience with brokers or investing and feel almost pressured to stick with him to avoid having to go find another one.

The sticking point is that you are not the actual owner of the property.

when investing I always look at school ratings, generally areas with good schools are lower crime, if you stick to those areas you're probably fine

That's not to be brag, that's to tell you if you know how to manage time, people, money, and everything in between there's not stopping you from being an active investor.Passive investing, stick to fixed income.