I've recently taken the plunge just about two months ago to embrace the entrepreneurial lifestyle full-time.

I need a little advice as I prepare to take the plunge into Real Estate Investing in 2017.A little of my background I am 33 years old.

It was losing almost $2000 at the time but we had a plan (and no kids or big house/fancy cars) to hold us back so with my wife's support, I took the plunge.  

We decided to take the plunge after part time investing for 4 years (2007-2011) so I quit my job to go full time.  

I am a newb and I feel I am ready to plunge in and make the taxable cash  that we have work for us!

Although I must confess I've actually been on BP for 4 years but I've decided to take the real estate plunge and know I need to be around like minded people to stay encouraged and keep moving forward!

@Zack Clopper congrats on taking the plunge into RE investing!!  

We've discussed REI for a few years now and just took the plunge on buying a home that we'll use as a rental.

I've decided to take the plunge and invest in real estate, and want to do so by house hacking with a duplex.I want to purchase sometime between summer and winter of this year (I hear that the holidays are the best time to purchase), and plan going to get a few mortgage preapproval / loan amount quotes.I've got a few questions that I would love to have some light shed on:1) What are some things that I can ask / look for in order to determine some intangible things about the lending institution such as:a) Willingness to work with me in order to get my loan approved (i.e. if I'm not going to get accepted for a loan, I'd like the person to at least think if there is a way for me to get accepted)b) Closing speed (i.e. how fast can the lending institution close a deal?)

PM goes over and plunges the toilet and tells the tenant to stop flushing the tampons; 45 bucks, problem resolved.