Is it smart to use hard money to get REOs then refinance ?

[Tremaine Jeffries]

I'm a virgin to this RE business. I have been reading about strategies on how to get RE with low to no money. I see the best deals are Foreclosures. Has anyone tried using hard money to fund auction acquired property? If so, how was the process because I was going to refinance for 70-80% ARV if the hard money is viable.

[Ron S.]

Many people with no money try to use hard money, thinking many people with hard money lend to people with no money. People with hard money do lend to people with no money however, not to people with no money and no experience. Not typically at least, and for those few that do, they set the deal up under the auspices that you fail, while they are made whole.

You are in a very big pond, with very big fish, trying to get a piece of a finite amount of food. I'm not saying don't go for it but...i would not pursue it that way. You risk harming a homeowner, wasting the time of professionals, and possibly hurting yourself if you mess around on a transaction that is subject to foreclosure rescue/consulting laws without knowing what you are doing.

Go buy an open market home using government financing and down payment assistance. Manage that debt for a while, then leverage your experience on to another deal.