Hard Money and Contractors in Charlottesville, Va

[Christopher Meadows]

Hello All,

I am placing a bit on my first investment property in the Charlottesville, VA area. I already own a home in the area but this will be my first investment property. My question is in regard to hard money lending and contracting? Generally speaking, I have the money to cover the property purchase or the rehab, but not both unless I get a great deal.

My question is: What is your criteria for choosing a hard money lender? I have never used hard money lenders before but based on the research I have done, there seams to be a lot of variation in how they all do business. I have read that some vary from 0 points up to 5 points and then the interest. Looking for some thoughts from the community in that regard. What do you all look for in a local hard money lender?  Where do you all draw the line with respect to hard money costs?

For contractors, (aside from stalking folks at the local Lowes and dragging Craigslist) where are you all finding your contractors or subs?  I have used Thumbtack.com for my own home handyman items. Does anyone have any experience finding contractors to work your rehabs using this service?

Lastly, I have met a contractor in the local area that is interested in doing a deal, but he does not have the cash reserves to do a 50/50 deal (In my opinion). He can cover 10-15k of rehab expenses but that is it. In my mind, on an 80k all in deal (35K being rehab), I would split the profit from the sale with 19% going to the contractor and 81% going to me. This is assuming we split profits according to total investment contributions (his 19% vs my 81%. Does anyone have any experience doing deals this way or see error in my logic?

Thanks

Chris