Buying my first "driving for dollars" property

[Matt Roberts]

Hi everyone, I am about to start looking for a property to buy for a rental and I want to make sure that I understand exactly how the process works. With real estate, one small decision can affect whether the entire deal is profitable. Also, there are many things that I don't know I don't know. My questions are as follows although there are many others: What documents I need and where can I find them, when should I get a lawyer involved, how long to give for a closing date, should I secure hard money prior to finding the property or after it is under contract, how long should I borrow the hard money for (I've heard 14 months but that seems like too long). I've been reading books and listening to the BP podcast but I can't seem to find a step by step explanation of how to really do this. Can you help me?