Unfortunately, the seller got an appraisal on the property and it came out to $800,000, so the negotiations aren't going as smoothly as we would like since the seller's lawyer keeps bringing up the valuation based on the appraisal and not the NOI. 

Or is their focus on the logistics of buying and selling smoothly?

I may be a bit late to the party but Suntrust does both conventional and portfolio lending and I've had smooth easy transactions with them in the past.

Whenever you are buying a property out of state you should do a few things to ensure it's as smooth as possible.

When I tried to vet them, It looks like they their business is not currently active so I backed out...Please keep me informed if you proceed and let me know if things went smoothly.

Even if you have to give some profit away, it will be well worth it to make sure things go smoothly and your investors stay happy!

I will post pictures as it goes along (just contacted my first subs today) and most of that process can be found on my instagram page @alexcorrion Thanks for the encouragement everyone, hopefully this all goes 'smooth' 

His first trip didn't go smoothly due to a missing lock box, and so on his second trip he was able to access the property, and assessed it at 7500 below the negotiated price.

In the end, I had to skim coat the wall with drywall mud and sand to get it smooth.   

I plan on building my portfolio over the years and I have written long term goals and continue to stay on track, I have good momentum and so far everything is planning out smoothly.