The flat fee should be his insurance against you "wasting" his time, and if anything it should be refunded at closing, not charged.

The monthly cost breakdown is as follows:Mortgage - $1,200Taxes - $700Flood insurance - $170Home Insurance - $150Reserves - $500I went into this saying I wanted to pay no more than I currently am paying in rent ($900) to live in this place.  

I am not familiar with the Joe England interview, but if you setup templates with your standard items filled in (3 day attorney approval, conventional loan, residential blah blah) then just pull the info from the MLS it is pretty streamlined.

Hello Ivan - I'm a Cleveland Investor as well as an Insurance Agent.

@JR Nieman I'm looking at basic homes with laminate wood floors, granite countertops, standard fixtures, nothing luxury.

Set up a set of standards have a process in place and follow it without regards to protected classes.

Say we have around $100k to put in, we could put 25% down (standard around here for a conventional mortgage on second/investment home) on either 1 $400k home, 2 $200k condos, or 1 less expensive place needing repairs (putting some of our capital against renovation).

(figure product in the 2-3/Sq ft range, standard transitions)CERAMIC: $11.50/Sq ft with durarock (figure tile in the 2-3/Sq ft range, standard grade edging and transitions if applicable)A couple steps that might help you find a usable contractor:Retail stores will take you to the bank for flooring, typically. 

You don't have to "work for a broker" but you do need a broker to hang your license with, train you (taking and passing the test does little to train you in the actual application of being a successful agent), and provide errors and omissions insurance.

I understand what the standard down payment percentages are for jumbo loans for a given credit score, but does anyone have any insight or advice on who or what I should consider next?