Just trying to see things from different angles and other perspectives.

Many of the larger brokerages will take on anyone and may provide more training, but may not be the right fit for you and what you want to do.

I will tell you that non of the 5 financial advisers we've spoken with really understood the SDIRA angle and only 2 supported our self-funding of LTC.I'm curious what @Paul Allen thinks of this as he's an actual Financial Adviser and posted on this thread.

You can spend 20 minutes on the phone with each lender on your list and narrow down the field to those lenders who have an appetite and product that fits your strategy and property type.  

I was thinking I needed to start really early in case it's harder to find roommates than I anticipated but I want to be sure I understand the screening process and find the best fits more than having a ton of leads.

HI Bradford,Most lenders can do the 203k FHA streamline or full K / standard program or the home style conventional loan program.The problem is most have not done a rehab loan program or have construction experience  or the process on the lending paperwork side.There is quite a bit of paper work such as:- scope of work + revised scope of work or adjustments- consultant review depending on the depth of your construction project and work being done- resume for contractor- certain lenders have requirements for contractor experience such as you cant GC (general contractor) your own project and such- reserves or margin of error in the project such as the 35k streamline 203k loan which only leaves about 28-30k of actual construction cost with the remaining 5-7k for reserves and contingency- only 203k standard FHA can finance your carrying costs (so you dont have to make a mortgage payment during your 6 months of construction)- Home style conventional rehab loan cannot have a project that is more than 50% of the after improved value (meaning your rehab cannot be 250k on a 450k valued project after you finish) youd have to lower your rehab to 225k or less in this example) This is not limited on 203k products- much moreAfter the construction details and process theres the typical financing aspects which include regular FHA or conventional qualification guidelines.The rule of thumb though is to qualify for way more than you need or to do a max purchasing power assessment to see how much borrowing power we have to ensure we have enough room to budget for the 1) purchase, 2) rehab / construction budget, 3) reserves and contingency budget to fit in loan approval criteria.Let me know if you have any questions on what to look out for.

I think it might make more sense for me to live in the house to eliminate holding costs and do some of the rehab myself (which I know nothing about).My goal is to make $2000 per month of passive income from rentals, heck even $800 would be a life changing amount, but my current life situation makes it extremely difficult for me to save money and leaves me with little to spend, thus I can only afford maybe a $40k mortgage.It's really difficult to see where I can fit into this, maybe I'm just fooling myself and I cannot enter real estate?

The whole town is certainly fitting for celebrities as they love Tulum.  

But the "play it safe and careful" just doesnt fit my character.

Look at this linkhttps://www.nps.gov/nr/regulations.htm#6015 specifically sec. 60.15a) Grounds for removing properties from the National Register are as follows: (1) The property has ceased to meet the criteria for listing in the National Register because the qualities which caused it to be originally listed have been lost or destroyed, or such qualities were lost subsequent to nomination and prior to listing;Sounds like yours fits this criteria.