I too worked for that company in Savannah for 21 years.I retired a while back and have added to my SFH rental portfolio to supplement retirement.I currently live in Charleston and have found it is a good investment market. 

I would like to build a rental portfolio in the Maryland area.

I'm forming an LLC with another partner and I know that a single person can have 4 to 5 properties under his name when going through a standard mortgage process that is reported to fannie mae and freddie mac (aside from portfolio loans).I was wondering, when we purchase a property under an LLC, do we have similar limitations for the #of properties to own, or is it different?

I am looking for recommendations for lenders that will do a cash out refi on a portfolio property.

There are places where $400k would get you a home AND a good start on a rental portfolio. 

Hard/Private Money is how I built the majority of my portfolio with none of my own money.

I have I have an opportunity in front of me to begin my property Investment Portfolio.

I built my portfolio with the BRRR strategy before I knew it was called that.

Even in the best case scenario, the ROI does not justify the large capital investment and relative lack of liquidity as compared to my stock portfolio (where I have more knowledge & risk tolerance, even in volatile markets). 

Lenders will normally consider 75% of the fair market rent as your income for purposes of qualifying for the loan.An alternative to consider is a "portfolio loan" with a local lender like a credit union or community bank.