Beginner - hard money loan: what comes first?

[Kevin Owen]

I’m eager to find my first deal - I was planning to use a hard money loan, and they obviously need a deal in hand to finance, but I was hoping to already have financing to show to the seller with the offer. What’s the best order of operations here? Any thoughts/suggestions appreciated!

[Greg Scott]

Find a hard money lender that works closely with a conventional lender. (You want to get out of the HML into conventional as soon as possible.) Get your pre-approval letter from the conventional lender.