Check in with @Joseph Chiofalo they are a Nationwide lender he'll point you in the right direction. 

I'm a 25 year residential real estate agent/broker in the Lehigh Valley.  The last 3 years I have been transitioning into investments and development.  I would like to become a full-time real estate investor. I'm work...

What probably doesn’t help also is that we will be using hard money which eats into profits and so getting that better deal seems to be harder compared to investors that have cash. 

I am a Lender / Investor from Washington State.

Did you work with any real estate professionals (agents, lenders, etc.) that you'd recommend to others?

I’m just comparing the potential gains with a cd in the bank.

I work for/with a very investor focused lender and they support many of our luxury STR and second home coastal purchases for my client's in Oregon & California and they just waived the appraisal for a $800K purchase!

But keep getting push back from Lender, and insurance (mainly lender).

I occasionally look at contingent comps if I can't find anything comparable and have exhausted all possible avenues for sold comps.

For owner occupied properties federal law requires lenders to verify the ability to repay by the borrower.