I have went to traditional school and learned quickly that it wasn’t for me.

The traditional way to get this experience and knowledge is to have done that kind of work in the past.

A traditional mortgage can be utilized for a 3 family. 

I would rather take it through a portfolio/traditional lender, really inspect the property, Take my time and come up with a solid plan.

Is it more difficult to cash-out refinance after you raise the value of the home compared to an HML or traditional loan?

nice yes...data access and co-hosts support is great...but it's the buying a product in the zipcode boundary, neighborhood specific maze, the ever-changing laws, getting the facts of nightly, weekly, monthly, room versus whole place, including if you lease arbitrage, own it, own as a primary, own as a second home, an investment, what you can and cant do is gonna take an attorney for Savannah if your going to buy or lease to do short-term rental, ...the plan of buying a non-traditional investment in any area with some history or hospitality draw, will take serious due diligence..even the municipalities, govt. workers give contradictory answers, because they dont know what can, cant be done, they just give surprises, and over enforce which can kill your investment.   

The presenter continued and said that those who are on 30-year mortgages are paying 60%-100% interest (or 160% - 200% of the loan value), not the traditional "5%" that we are applying for.

Does it make more sense to look for a traditional loan in the location I'm planning to invest or at a local bank here in California?

I wanted to add traditional rental or owner finance type investments to my portfolio.

Then you would establish a traditional LLC as your operational LLC.