Any tips on where to find boots on the ground?

Gurus have been pitching real estate training for 30-40 years now or longer.  

I'm looking to buy a home now but larger banks such as NFCU seem to want tax returns that show lower DTI numbers, which is causing me issues as the accountant provided substantial writeoffs on my returns. 

That’s if you are doing buyoutSimplest and least amount of headache is just sell them and start over -Now nothing says you cannot buy them.

At a crossroads now as to whether I should try to find someone who I can at least list as project manager (I have no clue if they actually would be contacting this person regularly or require really anything from them) or if I should just use a lender with less stringent requirements but that will require at least 10% of purchase as a down payment.

You've clarified my doubts, and now I can make a fully informed decision.

Now this is how I define them.

I have been part of USTLA and felt they had very good training and tips.

I now know I need to raise my credit score a few more points and raise the 10% down payment amount for the bridge loan.

A little background - I have been educating myself in all things REI for over 3 years now.