Here’s the catch: The brother would be stretching to make the rent that I’m currently getting on some of the other properties I own in the neighborhood and, apparently, his credit isn’t great.

Be prepared to have the tough, uncomfortable discussions.

I recommend looking into the local credit unions first (Charlotte Metro, Truliant, etc.).Also, in addition to the meetings @Karen Rittenhouse mentioned, I'd invite you to come out to the next networking meetup of local BiggerPocket members:Charlotte, NC REI Networking Meetup - Tues.

I'm currently in the middle of getting my Real Estate Agent license and hope to have it done by end of year.i was studying my Law of Contracts material and i came across the rule (537.11) that states that agents must use TREC promulgated forms in a transaction unless the license holder (me) is acting SOLELY as principal or the principal (client) requires use of another contract and/or one prepared by an attorney.  

Lima One is great too especially if you have credit or debt to income issues to personally get a loan

Also HELOC's get more restrictive or lenders get rid of credit lines all together.

I realize now I worried entirely too much about the what if's on this deal and being more prepared would have helped to prevent this.Structurally if I were to do this again, I'd of created a trust instead of holding in my company name and changed the email and mailing address for notifications.

We get charged 3%, whether our renter pays from their checking account or whether they use a credit card. 

So I wanted to take this opportunity to potentially build a relationship with a local credit union or regional bank who also provides portfolio lending options. 

Furthermore, I do have some equity in the house and at some point I’m definitely going to take out a line of credit against it as a down payment on my first deal.