This lender was obviously unfriendly towards investment lending very early on, but this experience makes me wonder if I am breaking some kind of real estate buddy code, as if lenders are faithfully partnered with particular agents.

There are a ton of lenders out there pretty much offering the same products so find the one (or the few) that you are most comfortable with and depending on the details of your deal know which of your lenders are best suited to handle that deal in particular based on their criteria

I particularly like the value-add strategy since it puts equity growth within my control.At the end of the day you can be successful in real estate investing 50 different ways so it just comes down to deciding which strategy is the best fit for you.

In the case of iPostal, it has a low monthly cost, but a fee for each action (fee to scan, fee to shred, fee to deposit, etc) so I think before you sign up for any particular service, consider how much mail you would be receiving there and if it makes sense to use a virtual box that has more of these features included in the monthly price. 

If you need commercial financing, there is plenty out there, particularly commercial financing that's based on the property's cash flow rather than your income.Banks and Credit Unions are the first place to look, but commercial brokers are out there as well with some innovative products. 

However, if you were looking to carve out a niche for yourself in a particular area the checklist might not be a bad idea.

We don't have a particular property in mind yet so I'm not sure how to calculate these ratios as it seems like I would need to underwrite the deal to see what the ratios would be on a deal by deal basis.

If you are W2, and either salaried or consistently working 40 hours/week, your tax returns typically will not be used to calculate your income from that particular income source.

I also discuss with new agents what I am looking for in terms of cashflow or return or some mix and the wanna be agents seem to always bring me properties that have significantly negative cashflow and then can't answer any questions as to why they brought that particular property to me.I am needless to say, frustrated.  

Can anyone give me any advice  Get the particulars in writing.