My mom wants to partner with me and buy property together since she has perfect credit and a better chance at being taken seriously by the banks that will give us a mortgage. we are going to go 50/50 on the down payment and all expenses/maintenance. we will be getting an fha loan and putting 3.5% down which will allow us to have a big emergency fund.

Airbnb has two products they say cover hosts: The Host Guarantee, which is $1 million of protection against damage to your property and the Host Protection, which is $1 million of insurance protecting you against liability.

The best rentals (for passive cash flow) are typically in B/B+ neighborhoods (good demand, low tenant turnover, but not such high PITI that you lose all your rental income to the bank). 

Union Bank but only 50% LTV

in addition I'm in the process of financing a 4 family (on the personal banking side) better terms and conditions.

Safe Credit Union, US Bank, El Dorado Savings, Golden Pacific Bank.

@Kevin Phu set up a separate bank account with a bank that has online banking.  

Either bank financing or Hard Money.

I am finding that the banks will only lend to me if the property is owner occupied.

The HELOC gives you lots of flexibility without rushing you into a deal (every second your money sits in the bank, you're losing ROI).I have a $110k HELOC that I keep in reserve for when my liquid cash runs dry.