If you want to manage it yourself, get a merchant account set up so you can take credit cards and plan on spending the $800/yr on HomeAway or VRBO to be included in searches.

or is the 3.5% set in stone

And I would like to ask if anyone has found any rental properties in Lowell aside from the MLS, such as absentee owner or free and clear through creative methods?

You may not need to complete all the repairs/rehab up front, but, but planned for within a set time frame. 

I do have a meeting set up with a different bank later this week, as after reading some on here I do not think the first bank I selected is necessarily the best fit for what I intend to do long term.  

On a side note, once you buy property larger than 4 units or have 4 loans underwritten by Fannie/Freddie you will have to get commercial/portfolio loans.

@Dakoda SpencerIf you start doing lease options, lease purchase, etc that has its own set of legal issues.

Tax benefits' aside - it is the most expensive way to operate a vehicle.  

If you set up keywords for the areas you are interested in, as well as the topics you are interested in, you'll be notified of new posts.

Our 2 current rentals are under our own name, but we are planning on setting up an LLC on Legal Zoom and would like to transfer the 2 existing properties to the LLC.