Explore my personal favorites, Set For Life by Scott Trench or The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, for invaluable financial insights.3.

The property is owned in an LLC, but it's a SMLLC, so it's filed on my personal return.

Note that many of the solutions out there offer 30 minute to an hour guided demos with a sales person/tech person.  

Many of them will meet in person and you never know who would will meet or learn at these groups. 

Keep in mind that everything is still negotiable

Lastly there just is not enough of those type of deals to take on extra work and risk .. its too narrow of a niche.. and keep in mind my fee's FAR exceed normal HML fees they make it worth my while.

There are definitely pros and cons to each so I figured I would just lay out a few benefits and personal thoughts: Small banks/brokerages:Pros:- Some regional knowledge of the market- Possibility of more creative lending guidelines with bank specific programs- Sometimes they have competitive rates for their areaCons: - weak balance sheet (more strict on some guidelines, no wiggle room, inability to be flexible or grant exceptions because they cannot afford to hold less than perfect loans)- Can't scale with clients to different markets- Usually limits exposure to individual investors (they don't want one investor to be too big of a portion of their balance sheet)- Lack of experience with multiple solutions (tend to have 2 or 3 loan products they sell and are too niche to provide tailored solutions)Large banks/brokerages:Pros:- Large compliance departments that understand individual market guidelines (typically each state has specific lending guidelines that augment the national baseline)- Ability to scale into multiple markets with same lender (licensed in many states)- Impossible for individual investors to "outgrow" a large bank's balance sheet (not concerned with one investor's concentration)- More lending solutions available for different scenarios- Often comparable or better rates given the game is volume basedCons:- Can be more difficult to get fast responses if the bank/brokerage does not have good follow up systems in place (or if the underwriting/processing staff gets overwhelmed)- Bad large banks can feel less like a relationship and more like a cog in a factory (less personal)Overall, I have worked from both and worked with both as a loan officer, branch manager, and as an investor/client myself. 

Personally, I believe there are great investment opportunities here.

IMHO, and bearing in mind that I can't see it in person...I don't think that that slight slope justifies a retention wall.

While this might seem like a downside, it's important to keep the bigger picture in mind.If you’re looking at a duplex in a good area, close to your work, and the numbers still make sense—even with those lower rents—don’t let that deter you.