Always exhaust your conventional financing options first because they are markedly cheaper. 

When you are just getting started, there are quite a few cheaper routes to follow.And as a leader of a REIA I see so many people come to our group - referred by Fortune Builders and others similar groups that come to town and they all say, I wish we would have came here first. 

I have some areas of concern. 1. with cheaper properties 30-40k will the house be able to appraise below 75% ARV to do the cash-out refi? 

@Clifford, sorry for the confusion, I meant that USAA doesn't cover commercial investment properties, so when I bought my 10-unit I transferred everything under one hat...but I will say that State Farm was significantly cheaper for me.

The fee with the county is small.However, you should keep them separate, the total value of both is higher this way and if you ever get in a rut, you can sell one side.The insurance company views it as one duplex and insured both sides as one unit, which is much cheaper per unit than my other townhome.

@Nyia Xiong Welcome, take in as much advice as you can it is cheaper than learning from mistakes.

Should I keep talking with the broker but try to get the cheaper price?  

a cheaper house?

Should I just start cheaper?

Proper, Cbiz and Foremost.Foremost was much cheaper for me.