hard money loans worth it?

[Joshua Pages]

greetings BP community, 

My name is Josh. I've spent months of research into REI and was interested in making my first investment in a rental property. I want start of with single family homes but I barely have money to put a decent down payment. When i looked into hard money loans, I crunched numbers based on probable expenses and intrest rates with the cost of an average home in todays market (depending on location) but it doesnt seem like there is no, if any ROI using a hard money loan. Should i just save for a down payment or is a hard money loan worth the risk? do you think im just not finding the right properties?

[Nicholas L.]

@Joshua Pages

do not use HM on first deal

save up down payment and house hack

look into programs with low down payments