Financing Strategies I Should Consider

[Saraan A.]

Hello Everyone,

I am totally new here and looking for a little guidance. I am interested in property rehabbing and house flipping. I am going through many of the BP forum discussions, pod casts, I am currently reading J Scott's The Book on Flipping, and I went to my first local REIA meeting last month. It was refreshing to see other women there that were doing this as it can be a bit intimidating especially since I have no property flipping or rehabbing experience. I do have a contractor that is willing to work with me when I start viewing properties. My next step will be to find an investor friendly Realtor. I am hoping to purchase properties in my area that are selling for $50-$60k.

My question is regarding financing and what may be the best way to go about doing a deal. I currently have $15,000 cash saved up and just opened a $20,000 personal line of credit @8% with my credit union. It requires a minimum payment of 2.5% of the outstanding balance. I also have approximately $45,000 of available credit in credit cards, although maxing credit cards out makes me a bit nervous just because of the hit it would take to my credit score. 

I just received the line of credit with my credit union today, so it has not hit my credit report yet. Should I attempt to open a couple of more lines with other institutions so that I have more available credit to me or would that not work?

I am trying to figure out if I would be a good candidate for a hard money lender. If so exactly how would they structure the deal? Do they finance the full amount of the purchase price and repairs and use my line of credit and cash as collateral? Or do they finance a percentage and I bring the rest? Are there better financing strategies I should look into given the above information? 

Thank you in advance with any info you can provide!