@Jeffrey Isenberg thanks for the warm welcome Jeff, I'm very excited to be involved in RE.

The wife checks out but her husband has a litany of criminal charges: hit and runs, DUI, etc. from not too long ago.Is this a legitimate reason to deny them? 

I am also looking to get involved professionally in this industry specifically in the property management or renovation side of the business for exposure and added knowledge.

I look forward to being involved in as many forums and discussions as possible to further educate myself about the industry.

About the only way I would recommend a SFH is for a Fix and Flip or a Quick Flip that involves no work that you can make money on. 

Because I already owned the house there was almost no paperwork involved.

Can anyone recommend a local lender or help outline some steps involved in this process?

Having said that, I was just involved in a $10M deal in Miami that is definitely cash flowing negative for a while but it is an assemblage of an amazing piece of land with amazing entitlements with multiple exits, all designed to negatively cash flow...my point is its all about the plan...hard and fast rules are usually wrong....what’s that saying “foolish cosistency is the hobgoblin of simple minds”

Can anyone recommend a local lender or help outline some steps involved in this process?

Frequently the REI/consumer applies to 3 or 5 different HELOC lenders before a credit line is actually opened -- the better rate HELOC has higher standards, so REI/consumers go through this time-exhaustive exercise of getting denied a bunch because the 4 best rate HELOC lenders denied them, it's not until the 5th that it's approved and open.