My brokerage hasn’t made it a requirement yet but has highly recommended it and the experienced agents are mostly doing it, especially the females.

Once you determine if you need a license and are sure you are DF compliant, your other concern will be the quality of collateral and how much you are willing to lend against it.

For years we had a local chattel lender who took on higher risk loans for those without the large down, not super high credit, and on older homes.

Flipping is a high risk activity.

Is the rent high enough to justify someone else investing in it?

Active Income - Passive income, from rental real estate, is not subject to high effective tax rates.

I would highly recommend being as up front with any lender you work with and to find a broker/lender/lawyer team that is all on the same page from the beginning and are familiar with these types of transactions.

My thought is that it's better to own fewer high quality properties than lots of cheaper ones. 

I have a high desire to be in the short term market.

If I could chime in to help in the search:be sure to find an accountant who is willing to grow with you, and is not too high priced fee-wise.