Private Money Lenders Legitimacy

[Joshua Evans]

I am currently looking at a price of real estate and weighing my options on acquisition before approaching the seller and seeing if a deal can be reached.

Property Details:

Asking price- 2,000,000

51 doors, 86% current occupancy

24,500$ monthly gross

~11000$ current owner stated operating costs monthly

Current owner purchased the property in 2021 for 450,000$

For the first year I would self manage, live on property.

As far as lending, I've considered approaching an owner finance deal with the owner at full purchase price, but I have also looked at a private lender option for full financing at lower than asking price.

My real question is, when looking at the private lenders, and validating their legitimacy, a few require 0 down, at 5-7%, with a 2000$ loan origination fee. Is there a way to validate the company so that I'm not just handing 2k to a company that's going to deny every loan that crosses their table for an easy 2k. Are there recommendations from BP for private money Lenders to use?