I'll try not to make this too boring. This is just an account of how we got started in Real Estate Investing. We, like a lot of people watch way too many TV shows such as Flip This House etc. (I Love Em!) I couldn't help thinking that a LOT of the people shown on the show are, or at least seem to be...... Idiots!  (sorry about that but it's true isn't it?)

I just couldn't help thinking, wow, some of these people are dumb and I need to be doing that. It sure isn't rocket science so I gave it some thought.

I had never ever heard of Hard Money Loans until I joined a couple of RE Investing sites online. When I did hear about hard money and saw some programs I thought it was crazy, very expensive BUT easy to get providing the deal fits. Do I mind or care if a lender is making good money just so long as we are too? Hell no!  Is a local Bank going to give us this money with no money down in the current market? LOL, not a chance!

So now I had to find a decent lender. Trust me when I say, this was a joke to say the least.
I spoke with Broker after Broker both online and on the phone and the vast majority were pretty much full of crap. Either the programs didn't exist or they wanted me to pay all kinds of up front fees which wasn't going to happen.

The next step was to research and contact Hard Money Lenders directly. Wow, what fun that was! I'll tell you now that I spoke directly with probably 25 so called lenders. Of those, most were crazy and just guys who thought they were lenders. Of the rest, they wanted so many junk fees it was ridiculous. LOL, one of them actually said to me "we are a national lender but we already have a loan out there so we are not funding right now"  What? "A" loan, as in ONE, LOL  yeah OK, goodbye!

This went on for a few weeks until finally, after all this wasted time and effort, I can across a lender :)  A real one, a big one, one with actual funds, one with no junk fees and certainly no bullshit.

So what happens next? Well, we had to find the right deal!
Here's something you might get advised against doing and if this happens to you, get away from the person who said it. I went after REO's (Real Estate Owned or Bank owned foreclosures) Some people (idiots) may think you are wasting your time trying to get an REO from a major bank! Why?  That right there is crap too. If you have done your research and you think the deal fits with the hard money lender (just run it by them online) then go ahead and make an offer, or make multiple offers on multiple properties, it really doesn't matter.

I'LL TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THAT YOU CAN AND WILL GET PROPERTY FOR 50 CENTS ON THE DOLLAR OR EVEN LESS!!

If you find a property which would be appraised at say 200K in today's market, please don't think it's a good deal if the bank or anyone else wants 150K. Walk away and move on to the next one. Never be scared to offer 100K for that house, what's the worse they can say?        
IF YOU HAVE THE RIGHT DEAL, THE LENDER WILL FUND IT, PURE AND SIMPLE.
100% OF THE PURCHASE PRICE PLUS ALL THE REHAB MONEY, THE CLOSING COSTS, EVERYTHING!!!  THERE IS NO REASON FOR YOU TO TAKE A DIME TO THE TABLE.

  
I don't want to get off track so I'll stick to what happened next.
So, we found a property here in Orlando FL. It was a bank owned foreclosure and our comps etc. told us it was worth $340K in today's market.

We immediately had our General Contractor look at it and the estimate to complete the full rehab on this property was $30K
Based on the fact that I wanted the property for half of what it's worth, I offered the bank (through our RE agent) $170K.
At that time, the bank had it listed for $220K which I couldn't care less about.
The offer went in and 5 days later the bank said they would take $172K (LOL, what's with the 2 grand) So there they were with a price of $220K and they say yes to $172K (I told you!!)
We of course said OK.

Oh, I need to back up just a little.
I went online to the lender web site and entered in the property as a potential deal based on what was going on. They gave us the OK and provided a POF letter (proof of funds) which pretty much made us cash buyers (nice ha!)

Blah Blah Blah, we closed on the deal, did the rehab in 4 weeks, got the thing on the market and sold it within 28 days for $319K

Here's what else happened though (and this is important) Prior to us starting the rehab, the lender sent their local representative to meet with us at the property to go over the costs etc. and come up with the right numbers. While he was there, he suggested we do a little more than we had originally planned. He wanted to see the landscaping get more than the 4 grand we gave it. With his advice (which later proved extremely valuable to us) we added 5 grand to the project rehab which allowed us to offer much better curb appeal. The property looked awesome when it was done.

Their inspector was awesome. He came out 5 times during the rehab to make sure we were OK with everything and allow us to request the weekly rehab funds. Let's look at that real quick. So there he is, their guy, who comes out to the property to inspect and document the entire process. Why is he doing this? to protect the lender's interest of course but think about it, in doing this, he ensures that WE are protected too. He makes sure that we are 100% on track, doing a great job and making the best effort possible to make this flip a good deal for all concerned. It was almost like we had a boss looking over our shoulder from time to time (almost) but when we stopped to think about it, his sole purpose of being there was to make sure that ALL of us did well from the deal. His weekly visits were actually very much welcomed and his experience and expertise helped us tremendously.

OK, job done, property sold and we are ready to do the next one.
I'm sure you are wondering, how much did we make?
After all fees, loan points, closing etc. we walked away with 70 grand. Pretty sweet ha? And all because the lender made sure our deal fit perfectly in the beginning!

PLEASE READ THE ENTIRE Q&A PAGE LOCATED HERE TO SEE HOW THE LOAN PLAYED OUT.

We are currently on deal number 4 with our lender and our relationship has developed into one of trust and confidence. We now know we can pretty much pick up the phone or present a deal online and we will have the thing funded within 5 days!!

The sole purpose of this page is to let you know that it CAN and WILL be done with the right team of people backing you. I see post after post online on the RE sites from people asking question after question about what would someone else do etc.
To those people and to anyone else considering flipping houses for a living, DO IT!
If you don't pull the trigger, nobody is going to pull it for you.
Do your research, find the right deals and DO IT!

We can even set you up with an account, directly with our own lender. Just CLICK HERE
Once there, you'll see 100% of the information you need to get that hard money loan.