Also How can I make sure that I am protected, and get my share of the profits?

You have no room for a profit.

Now I have no choice but to make it work.Fortunately I did have some reserves at the time, but they're dwindling fast. i figure I can make it about 3-4 months with what I have left, but -knock on wood- as long as I can get this house sold within that time, I get my money back, and I make a healthy profit.

Put 6K in it for updates and when we divorced sold it for a 100k profit split 55/45.

I'm pretty sure that Ryan is correct about the usury laws, and anyway if you charge so much interest that the investor who's borrowing it can't make a profit you'll end up with a bunch of property that you don't want.I've made some HMLs and I've never charged anywhere near those numbers, although with points and fees I make sure I'm NETTING a very nice return.For those kinds of numbers you have to become a "payday" lender.

Is this correct, and what can I do to break out of this cycle so I can generate the profit I'm looking for?

The more it positive cashflows (makes you a profit), the better a deal it is, from a cashflow analysis perspective.Of course, there are many other "perspectives" to real estate investing, but they are off this topic.Ben

the good investor always strives to maximize his profit, getting the best deals he can on price and rehab.

Because we dont know exactly how the units will look when re-painting and set, and also the cambridge market can be pretty volatile, (the units will be on the market in roughly 10 weeks from now) I'm going to project a per-unit price of =/- 10%, ie roughly 275 to 340k.Thus:Total sale price: 825-1020Commision (somewhat low, the realtor I am working with to buy the property said she would give me a deal if I also made her the selling realtor for the units): 35-45Transfer taxes, attorney fees, etc: 12kgross sale price: 778-963kSo we get a net profit of:102-275k Looks pretty solid.

If everyone were to just wait until others do it, not only does it take longer, but profit margins deminish as opportunity decreases.