But he has a fulltime office person ($??

Hey @Kyle Kline, these are all great questions to ask and ultimately it will be personal preference. 

I know a really good guy personally who built up his company from frostburg

For background this is my first investment and I own the property personally not with an LLC or anything of that nature. 

This type of loan is popular as it does not require any personal income.

For reference sake, we have one mortgage at 7.5%; one at 5%; and all other financing below 4% with an overall portfolio weighted average interest rate of 3.785%I don't care too much if you have 5 properties or 500, but I'm curious if others have gone through this thought process at some point in their real estate investment journey and if so how did you make this decision?

I personally would put down 20 percent and keep the rest of my cash, even if it meant I wasn't "making money" in the beginning.

Hey Vicky, I think I know the area you are referring to.

When you get them on the phone setup a time to do a zoom call, see how they do business, who the connections are they have, and if you get to know them through those conversations and feel good go meet them in person.

However, the person you spoke with has a good point.