Help please!! Need some financing insight for my situation!

[Gary Newsom]

Hi

I am new to this and need some good advice that hopefully will keep me from spinning my wheels when I get out there. Here's the setup: I am a small business owner (sole prop) been in business for 11 years. I make more than I currently show on my income taxes. I have about 80K in savings.

My goal over the next year is to

1) Buy a rental property...I have one targeted that has positive cash flow, price is 69K. Tax value on  property is 84K. A property manager I interviewed said she should have no problem renting it for $800-850.

2) Refi my personal residence and rent it. I don't have huge equity in it.. current value is maybe $275K and I owe $220K. I have a really bad second mortgage on it that makes my monthly payment much higher than it should be. The house should rent for $1500-$1600/month. (FWIW,I am in a currently hot market)

3) Purchase a ranch outside of the city with a separate lot that has enough land to accommodate my business ( I am in ground transportation...need room for 7 or 8 vehicles and a small building to be used as an office) I am good with buying a fixer upper here, moving in and working on it as we go.

4) Moving from that property (leaving the business on the extra lot) and taking on another rehab or maybe if we have a great experience doing the first 3 steps, getting further into buy and hold or buy, rehab and hold.

I have some challenges with finding financing. Talked to one bank today. Small community bank. I was referred by one of the clients of my business who is on the bank's board. The bank is a "cash flow" lender. (These terms are new to me..) He said my numbers don't work out currently to where he could even do the refi for me. I have trouble understanding how, when I currently pay $1700/mo for mortgage payment, they could possibly think that I couldn't handle a refi which at today's rates puts me at about $1100 :-). Seems a no brainer from a purely logical standpoint.  BTW, the bank I talked to is the one that is currently holding my savings. Needless to say, I was not happy with that result.

So...can I get some good advice as to how to find money in my situation? Different kind of bank? Crowdfunding? Private money? One potential asset I have is that due to the nature of my business, I have long term relationships with a number of people who have more money than they know what to do with. It occurs to me I could tap into that, but I want to be ready if I do. What is the right way to set up something like that? Some kind of trust? What is a reasonable return on their investment? Would private lenders even be interested in long term mortgage financing?

Love to hear from some of you and I will be watching to answer any questions I have left unanswered in order to fully assess my situation. Thanks!