Believing a term lease determines when they move is a joke. 

But I will say, although its difficult its certainly obtainable my friend, just takes some time, focus, determination, and the ability to analyze deals and be creative.

., I doubt those lower bedrooms meet code and sprinklers would probably be more expensive than putting in egress wells for each.Check the town records to determine what the legal status of each apartment is.

Just like any new endeavor you're going to want to go into eyes wide open and learn as much as you can beforehand.Please look up investing in Self Storage on the internet - lots of articles, videos, etc., or PM me.Best of luck to you!

Have you checked rentometer.com to determine what rents should be?

My take would be first determine if you want to be the guy that goes & finds deals and brings them to financing (active investing) or the one with the money that folks come to (passive investor).Think of the former as having to hustle,  generate leads, network, & so forth as you learn the business and find opportunities with which to invest - otherwise known as "pounding the pavement". 

Perhaps if you are handy and with a little search time on the internet tapping various sources you could do it yourself.

However, how can you determine the best hard money lender to work with?

More specifically, we are researching what market we want to begin investing in and determining the type of financing we need to acquire. 

Just search the internet.