I am ready to take the leap on my first flip here in Chicago.  Long story short, it seems that a hard money lender is my most accessible route to finance the purchase and rehab.  I have done some but not a ton of loan shopping yet, and I am trying to determine if making a lot of calls to different hard money lenders is a necessary process,  

I recently had a lengthy conversation with a representative of an HML that does quite a bit of lending in my area. The conversation was not about a particular property, but just about the process in general. The conversation was frank and informative, and it actually caused me to reassess my purchase price and general scope of work (don't bite off more than I can chew on the first one) and as a result it changed my criteria and farm area, which I am happy about.

This particular HML quoted 3 points and 13% on a 9 month loan plus a $1250.00 origination fee and 20% down. From what I recall in reading posts on this site as well as a number of flipping related books, I wasn't shocked by this, but it is still really expensive money. So my question is this: this par for a course for a HML lending to a first time flipper, or should I be doing a lot more shopping.

Any help/thoughts are appreciated.

Evan