1st time REI ready to make first purchase!

[India H.]

Hey! I'm not new to REI and I've been talking about getting my first property for several years now. I'm finally ready. I found a property on an auction site that I'd like to bid on. I'm looking to use it as an investment, not a primary residence. I'm considering using hard money lenders or DSCR loans, but it seems like DSCR would be a bit complex. I'd also like to try to purchase with a land trust or my LLC. Any recommendations for hard money lenders? Thanks.

[Andrew Postell]

Hi @India H. Thanks for the post here.  

What you are asking is a super important question and it doesn't just apply to lenders. How do you know that a contractor is any good? An electrician? A title company? Anything? Even if they do have 20 years experience...how do you really know? And while nothing is foolproof the most consistent method of finding good vendors is relying on OTHER real estate investors that have worked with those vendors. This is why we network with other real estate investors - kind of like what you are doing here!

So, let's try some local real estate meetup groups. Meetup.com is a good resource for those but some of the groups will also post here on Bigger Pockets Marketplace too. Your profile states Dallas and there are several here in our area.  Now, your post also stated Dayton, Ohio - any reason why you want to invest elsewhere?  Even facebook might have some good local groups for you. Some of those facebook groups have thousands of members. The priority is consistent recommendations from active investors. Oh, eventbrite too. But post locally for this. That’s the best bet.