The military lifestyle makes it pretty difficult to develop those relationships with local banks, lol, since we frequently move, but I will definitely look into the HELOC and other types of loans!

@Samuel SedoreI see 2-4 unit properties (even 5 or 6 units in many cases) as really being residential properties and you are frequently dealing with unsophisticated vendors and real estate agents whose bread & butter is selling pretty houses to Dick & Jane and who have no experience in how to sell to an investor.When you step into small multiunit apartments (say 6 - 30 units), my biggest frustration is the number of vendors/agents who bring a property to market as they would an SFR, rather than taking the time to prepare a memorandum of offering and a professional package comprising financial (2-3+ years), operational & marketing data, service contracts, etc.   

People that frequent the ERE and MMM spots in general think they know more about investing than they actually do.  

@Renae,I go to Capital City REIA and Leads to Deals (at the Chinese Buffet) the most frequently and have been to a military veteran, BWI, Baltimore REIAs.

It has been my experience that the local or regional banks have a little more room to adjust for repeat clients. 

@Eric MausWhile a 5 unit property is technically commercial, 5-8 unit properties frequently fall into the "no mans land" of mortgage banking:  they are not residential, but they are too small to be of interest to many commercial lending teams (i.e.

I am repeating myself because you are not getting it and you tread on very thin ice with your actions.  

They understand that they will get repeat business from investors if they are straight and sell quickly. 

Here are some of the pros and cons:Pros:Gap in the market that can be filled.High likelihood of repeat business from high volume buyers.Because many investors lean heavily on their agents to do legwork, you have a fair bit of control over your sales volume/performance.Your customers tend to be savvy.If you do well, referrals will fly in and you will have a full book of business.Cons:Requires several unique skillsets which are not required in traditional real estate.  

Repeat as many times as you want!!