It was 4 mm, fairly  nice quality, and easy to install.

That would be an easy way to connect with some hard money lenders.

So the owner may go with whoever makes it easy for them but hey they are not the one putting money in your pocket or worked for the money you already have and whatever you do it is you who will have to work to make things work out well for you not the agent. 

On the downside, with the HELOAN, I leverage only a small portion of that equity and, as I understand it, I would have to pay off the HELOAN before being able to access more (no plan to borrow more though as I don't want to over leverage).

Maybe do a "secret shop" and have a friend or family member call and inquire on the property to see if the PM is easy to get in contact with and set up showings. 

We were looking at it more for the flexibility of looking at a lot of properties frequently, MLS access and being able to continuously put in offers without exhausting an agent who has other clients to focus on as well.  

Talk to local agents and investors and see where in the area a househack may make sense (won't be easy to find around Boston, be prepared for that). 

I have a real estate license and have access to the MLS but I don't see how I can contact this person.

For most of the folks on the forums, access to capital seems to be the biggest problem.

I am pretty handy and plan on doing a lot of the easier work myself, and I may try to get my contractor’s license (apparently very easy to get in NJ) to make things a bit easier as far as permits are concerned.