I'd ultimately like to buy-hold-and-rent for cash flow and long term investment.

Fill in the foundation below.Check out the Start Here page http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere Check out BiggerPockets Ultimate Beginner's Guide - A fantastic free book that walks through many of the key topics of real estate investing.Check out the free BiggerPockets Podcast - A weekly podcast with interviews and a ton of great advice.

This is ultimately very simple, if the Mortgagee's secured interest is indeed superior to your real property interest you can not "win".  

Most traditional mortgage financing today ultimately comes from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so lenders underwrite to those guidelines.

Maybe to be more clear, my question is: when I advertise for an agent should I interview and pick just one agent to then get deals and ultimately make offers on a property, OR should I ask several agents to send me deals and then work exclusively with the agent that sends the best deals? 

UPDATE:In case anyone was following this post and wanted to learn on the topic, I wanted to return the favor here and respond with what ultimately happened.

Hi @Jonathan Taylor, Start by just reading the Ultimate Beginner's Guide.

BP is the ultimate game changer when it comes to successful real estate investing.

However, it is the borrower who ultimately decides what course of action to take.

He will get ultimately 65k, and me, 35k.