My Loan Officer and Some Leads

Loan Officer
I got a call yesterday from my loan officer's place. The people there have been nice, but I swear they are really testing my patience. If you recall, I went there a couple days prior to pay for the survey ($433). Now the lady says the survey company misquoted them, and I need to give them a revised check for $460!!! This is well over the price I thought a survey would cost, but the thing that burns me is that I made yet another wasted trip to their office the other day. I've been keeping track of my mileage, though, so hopefully I'll be compensated a little for it come next tax season. I'm just wondering when the next call from their office will happen, saying they need me to come in and do/sign something else. Geesh!

Some Leads
My agent called me yesterday and told me about a nice little SFR (no repairs!) in a neighborhood that will be seeing tremendous rental growth in the coming years. She said since I am her client, it was her responsibility to tell me about it first. I ran some quick numbers, and while it would make for a good rental, I would need to come up with some substantial upfront money - money I just don't have right now. So, I told her I would have to pass, but thanked her for referring it to me. She said 'no problem', and that she was going to go ahead and submit an offer herself for it. I wished her the best of luck, but I have the feeling she'll get it without luck.

I've also been pondering several non-HUD homes. All of them have a list price below $100k, and I'm trying to devise solutions that would work with my current financial situation while helping the sellers out, too. All of them require substantial repair work, so I'm thinking of going the HML route and then do a cash-out refi to recoup my upfront/closing costs. I'll either resell retail or L/O them. None of them are in prime areas, so if I do strictly rental, I'll probably be in the red for some time.