It’s often time consuming but establishes the guest-host relationship which I believe helps with care, respect, etc. 

Since this doesn't work for us.Your market looks tight already and sounds like you won't have an existing banking relationship to work from. 

We have a love/hate relationship with Chicago.

Looking for other investors in the CSRA/ Augusta area to meet and build relationships with.

@Jada Brown This looks like a nice property.At first glance, the property management seems low unless you have a great relationship with a PM who is willing to manage this for 4%.

Mortgage lender you will build a relationship with over time so as not to have to start from square one every time you go to get funding. 

I know several HMLs who lend at 12% with 1-3 points.You might be able to get 10% if you had a long-standing relationship with a private lender but I think you'd be safe to assume 12% if you're just starting out.Yes, HMLs usually want 65-70% LTV max, so that would be 30-35% down.New HMLs will loan that on the after repair value (ARV) but smart/established/experienced ones will loan 65-70% of the purchase price and then set up a draw schedule for the rehab, usually with the borrower funding each stage and then getting reimbursed after an inspection which verifies the funds were spent on that stage of the rehab and it was completely finished.So if you bought something for 100K, the lender might loan 65K, you'd bring 35K to the table.

For my second, I'd like to start building a relationship with a hard money lender.

We also wanted to set it up for a positive relationship going forward.

I once in a while read someone assert a 1:10 relationship, that if rates go up 1% then values will fall 10%.