Speed, Order, or Research

[Dane Entze]

My first deal was one of those perfect alignments of stars. We offered on a short sale. Long story short we "wiggled" our way in to get the offer accepted in less than 2 weeks. With the work we completed on the house we made over $100,000 when we sold just 2 years later. The catch was we were able to live in the property and take advantage of the USDA Loan.

We now live in Utah and want to begin investing. Our challenge is we have to get creative financially in order to purchase another property outside of the home we live in. 

The first question how do I find good deals and have time to offer on them? They always seem to go faster than we have time to even consider an offer.

The next question... When considering buying an investment how do we find hardmoney or private lenders since we are new to creative financing?

Should we have financing secured before putting in an offer on a property? If so, how do we find a lender if properties go so fast that we don't have time to get all the details?

Is it too risky to put a cash offer on a property even before the cash is secured?

Hopefully this isn't too much to ask. Any feedback is hugely appreciated.