@William Chrisman the items that I think are important to understand about portfolio lenders are that portfolio loans are designed to solve a problem that Fannie/Freddie loans cannot solve.

There are always additional items that come up.

Is there any way of removing negative items on your credit report before they expire off.

These are two completely separate line items and should be keep that way.  

These other items make it worth using a 1% agent vs. a flat-fee guy where they just put it in MLS and you have to do all the negotiating yourself, but that's not worth thousands of extra dollars to pay 3% commission.

In a fee per item you would be paying for that phone call.

The appraiser will remark on these items you are talking about and if they are not in really bad shape, the loan would go through normally. 

J Martin just reached out to me and asked about it so he could donate some money.

But remember their standards are lower, so be careful not to spend money on items that a B class would require. 

Familiarize yourself with how the return was prepared, what items were put on what form.