I didn't think it through the first time and I need to keep a buissness professional relationship with them so getting into a small multifamily makes more sense to me where my walls are seperate.

Look at the longer term relationships you are building because that is where you will win the war.

Their relationship problem is not for you to work out.

I wish I had a relationship like yours with a local lender near me.

Your new lender would find that out in a heartbeat as soon as you start the loan process.FWIW, it is easiest to work with lenders that have relationships so transition from HML to conventional is easy. 

Do you have any boots on the ground, if not work on building those relationships the easiest with be starting with a Realtor, Lender, or PM.

I want to make business relationships and friendships through this platform, where we can push each other to accomplish our goals and push each other to become better real estate investors.

I'm sure you and your friend have a great relationship, but a "string of acquaintances" doesn't sound like the most trustworthy source if you're going to be investing large sums of money in all honesty.there's a lot of homework that needs to be done.

@Ryan A Rodriguez-Wiggins i have my fingers crossed because my team is untested to this point, however it is made of friends of friends that i have known for years growing up, so i hope that relationship is enough to hold accountable (as well as well documented scope of work and incentivized payment schedules.)

Third, working collaboratively with the seller proved to develop a stronger relationship than had we been competitive/combative, which helped us navigate big maintenance and vacancy issues.