As a newbie investor, going with SFH or even a condo in a very investor-friendly HOA, if one exists in your area..

There is a reason why the saying "starting house" exists. 

Too many obstacles for the investor to make a profit.Lease option with an existing first and second?

Curt Davis why would he contact another lender if his existing lender told him they would do it.

Then you could give list to existing tenants in advance of things to do to help them get their deposit back etc.At least this way you can see how the unit looks and get an idea of how long a turn time and expense.Just because tenants do not own the property doesn't make it okay for strangers to enter a place where they live.

If I make an offer to purchase a property subject to the existing financing with the goal of minimizing my own funds into the transaction, how are the Realtor fees handled?  

These are just 2 basic, midwestern folks who were allowed to take more "equity" out of the house than what ever really truly existed.

I have never raised a rent on an existing tenant yet.  

It does require establishing trust before you dive into the personal finances of others.When I ask, it's usually about solving a problem, needing to know to figure out what the seller walks` away with at closing, if the don't have a Realtor, they don't have a clue.Some deals require an equity split on the seller's side, for many different reasons, they won't know what they are getting unless you run through the numbers.Another is simply telling them that in financing the deal I have a few ways that I can utilize the existing loan and that could give them a better price (no, I'm not paying more for seller financing!)

Do you have cash reserves for your existing properties?