Maybe it's a function of unfriendly judges, police, and prosecutors. 

Reduce services and/or combination of both.

Simply keep leveraging existing equity with you cash and grow using seller financing.You should never pledge all of your equity with another note, stay at or below 90% combined loan to value.

literally gauge condition & function of each fixture (ie, faucets, toilet, cupboards, windows, etc) with itemized checklist, signed and dated by both lessee and lessor 

You can do it in Excel with the financial functions, such as PMT, FV, PV, NPER, and RATE.When you're considering a loan with a balloon, you use the amortization period to calculate the payment.  

A great combination!!

The best is a combination of Trulia/zillow, Craigslist and sign out in front of the property if you want to do it yourself.  

As a business person I could not function without a pile of other peoples business cards.

It becomes more of a function of interest cost, rather than interest rate.

Or any combination of these.If you put together a good package that makes sense to these lenders you will be able to get your deal done.