I shopped around a lot for low closing costs.The Bank of Oklahoma (which manifests in NM as the Bank of Albuquerque) was willing to lend me money using these houses as collateral, assuming they appraise as I predict.

about to start shopping around for a refi on my rental.

Could you point me towards a list of minimums for a property to qualify for a conventional, conforming loan so I can shop it to a much larger pool of lenders?

Keep shopping.

The remaining initial liens redeemed and I still have some out there waiting to be redeemed...will be shopping again soon. :)

And then I have to shop based on that budget and not on the properties that I am the most attracted to, but honestly can't afford (yet).

Shop around is my suggestion for best service to cost.  

@David McEwanI would secure financing prior to shopping, however just ran into a deal where I was 'Preapproved" for financing, signed a contract & was sidelined due to a garage apartment & forced to seek cash from another source.

Hi Matt Castle I have had 2 evictions in last 3+ years, so don't really have a trend, but I would think that the evictions would be higher around and after the holiday season, because people tend to spend more money than they can really afford for holiday shopping and the they forget the importance of paying rent on time.Just my guess.Sharad

I've been shopping 6 months and this is the highest rental income I've seen for my price range (under 350K).The rents seem very low to me.