I like the Investor- GC approach, but I can't help but wonder if I'm leaving money on the table by paying retail at Lowes / Home Depot. 

Those processors are setup to deal with small retail businesses...not a landlord with a handful of properties.

So, call one of each:- Retail mortgage bank.

You say no one was lending which insinuates the retail buyers were unable to buy homes which is why rehabbers went from flipping houses to flipping burgers.If that was the case, how were you able to sell the properties you rehabbed? 

And of course you're buying turnkey so you are paying full retail.

Do you use the big retail platforms (Zillow, Redfin, Trulia, Realtor.com)?

They both rented within 24 hours of being listed and now we are on pace to cover all of our expenses.

On commercial retail properties you can typically forget 20% down type stuff.

The typical pricing is roughly:Pre-HUD (1976 and older) around $1,0001977 to 1979 around $3,0001980 to 1990 around $5,0001991 to 2000 around $10,0002001 to 2010 around $15,0002011 to current around $20,000Those prices are based on being fully renovated and ready to go with solid stairs and skirting.Any renovations you do would need to be subtracted from these retail prices.Note that this is extremely general -- in California a $10,000 home might sell for $150,000 and in Florida a $5,000 home might sell for $50,000.

In addition I am looking for window replacement and don’t want to pay the overpriced retail firms.