They are truly a one stop shop for investors and the place to go.

i.e. maintenance, make sure the firestick/cable channels are working, make a shopping list of things needed like laundry soap, coffee etc. 

Same here I have been saying the same line now for 47 years.. pretty tough to sit in the barber shop in Oregon explain doing HML in Baltimore LOL or building house's in charleston or Orlando  etc etc.. so I am in real estate works just fine.. 

From the rest of her email, it sounds like for the purpose of making loans, that step is often rolled into the origination process and involves no out-of-pocket contribution from the customer (because they're making money off of making the loan, so they gift you the start-up funds). 

For instance, the shop that I built in 2019 cost about $35k (me building it).

Shop around, my friend.Cheers!

funds aside, the Short Term Shop specializes in STR in the Blueridge area. 

Second, if you have a buyer, you know what they want, hence you can shop for that criteria having confidence it will sell placing you in a stronger negotiating position.

My conclusion is that there's a greater likelihood for a great experience when you book far in advance, when you're not shopping among the cheapest deals, and when you don't filter out much of the options for a special request.

conventional loan, private money (family member) provided down payment as a "gift fund" which we separately negotiated lending terms.