You might also want to ask about references with banks the agent has; many banks offer a credit repair program to help you get your score up, putting you in qualification range of mortgages.

I'm sure a lot of you have read How to Win Friend and Influence People, and I think that genuine approach to resolving conflicts and making sure that everyone (as much as possible) gets something beneficial from your interactions is central to whatever endeavor you're in, real estate or not.The question about wholesalers and hard money lenders I think comes down to the different degrees of risk the two parties take on when they're working with someone, and we're probably hardwired to interpret their lesser risk as being purely about extracting value.

What's at risk when you operate a RE business is not just the value of the business plus the value of your personal assets: it's your credit score and your ability to buy a home / car for 20 years, or you go the bankruptcy route.

Considering a HELOC on primary residence for further real estate investment purposes...would this affect a conventional property loan application since it is "secured debt" or mostly just affect credit scores?

and how can you take multiple loans when the credit score keeps going down because of an already existing loan

I got a credit score of over 760.

If you need any perspective from a fellow- but slightly lesser- novice, feel free to reach out!

I would also say that the higher the walk score the better the rental. https://www.walkscore.com/

I still have some things to square away before I can even look into homes right now (like improving my credit score) but I'm very hopeful and optimistic.  

been very interested in REI since i was 22 just never had the guts to really do any resource , but in the last few years I've been reading every book and listen to Podcast on BP I have a full time job i work for the city , my FICO score is around 680 , I save about 45% of my checks which go into two credit union, I have no debt .