Sellers and selling agents look for two main things when choosing an offer: Who has the strongest offer (not necessarily the highest) and who is most likely to close easily and with the least amount of hassle along the way. 

When there is not target to hit, like a mutually agreed price, the appraisers and lenders can choose to be conservative.  

Is that based on your expertise in that area or did you choose that area because you think it's the only place to make money?

I don't understand why some investors even choose to own one SFR at a time instead of waiting and investing in a multifamily.

I choose a more conservative strategy, the equity in my home is an 'off limit' capital

If someone has to choose between no work and breaking an immigration restriction, those that really want to work are likely to look for a way to circumvent the restriction.

I'm trying to build me list of good lenders to choose from as I start building my portfolio. 

How do you choose tenants if several have similar credit score, good history and meet all you criteria?

It's a revolving door,, If you choose to do this rent by the room, you will need to put a room number on each private room so if you ever have to file a eviction the room is designated,, I would suggest the electronic key pad type lock for main entry and one for each private room so easy to change codes.

Biggest mistake I made initially was buying a home for 130k - it's a good home but there's only a small pool of tenants who can afford the rent I'm looking for.If you're thinking of buying a rental for cash flow purposes, please don't spend more than 80-90k on you first single family home - I promise you will cash flow much better and have a much larger group of (perfectly fine) tenants to choose from.I also don't recommend buying a home for less than 50-60k, as that will just cause too much tenant drama/repair headaches.