There were some changes within the last year which really tightened the process and made a lot of the traditional wholesaling subject to heavy fines.

As the Chinese proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.

It sounds like you are looking for a traditional Fannie Mae non-recourse loan that might not be available to your property.

My friend who lives across the street has been successfully using Air BNB and I'm wondering if I should give it a shot or sick to traditional renters.

Traditional loan along with using other property as collateral.

In this case that would be considered a fix and flip without the fix, and traditional wholesaling is dead/illegal? 

However, this may be an avenue, if traditional banks are turned off by your large debt.

Of traditional drive up access storage per acre.

His lessons on 401K is really interesting and against the traditional teaching.

While two reps from the same firm will quote you the same rate, their ability to execute the loan can be night and day different.In regards to pros and cons ... think of the lending world as falling into 3 primary buckets: 1) traditional banks and credit unions (ie, Wells, BofA, Chase, etc), 2) mortgage banks (ie, Caliber, Quicken, Fairway, etc), and 3) mortgage brokers.Traditional Banks: (they do loans and hold deposits)Pros: because they tend to do such a large volume of loans, they are able to offer low rates ... they have the ability to do portfolio loansCons: very slow turn times - if you need to close quickly, they're generally unable to perform ... they tend to use national appraisal management companies and appraisal issues are common in competitive markets.Mortgage Banks: (they only do loans - no deposits)Pros: have the ability to close loans much faster - some of the local mortgage banks that we work with on purchases will routinely close loans in less than 14 days ... they often setup their own appraisal management companies and are able to improve the appraisal quality by ensuring the use of local appraisers.Cons: while they should be very competitive with their rates, they're not going to be the absolute lowest ... portfolio loans are generally not an option - they need to sell their loans right away so they can get that money back to lend it out again.Mortgage Brokers:Pros: they will have access to a bunch of different lenders and loan products, so they can submit your info to whichever one is offering the best terms at that moment.Cons: they have no control/influence over the underwriters or the timeframes ... they're generally forced to use national appraisal management companies, so appraisal issues are more commonHope this is helpful and good luck with the refi!