I would like to put my money to work instead of shoveling my money into the bank (mortgage) or to a landlord (renting).

If you’re looking to connect with private lenders, start by tapping into your existing network—friends, family, and colleagues can often be a great starting point.

Quote from @Benjamin Finney: Chris, interesting niche on non-performing mortgages/ rtl's.

I’ve had several investor clients go with a new (to me)/ unproven lender because of a slightly lower rate promise only to get burned by that lender (closing costs were higher, appraisal costs much higher and appraisal was a nightmare, main point of contact gave us the clear to close as we passed our financing contingency then just before closing someone from the underwriting department we previously didn’t know existed said we need a few more days and seller didn’t agree because they had a higher backup offer, jeopardizing the earnest money and losing the property, etc).

But after an exchange - sign the purchase documents with one pen and pick up another pen to sign the refi docs :)Another strategy you could consider is reinvesting into multiple properties, where you purchase the first property cash (ensures some security and concentrates the equity) and the second property with a mortgage.

Because of this the supply is relatively low which means the ones that do exist tend to make good money, especially if you theme it toward bachelor/bachelorette parties.

In our case we tripled our deal flow when we started a program of direct email to mortgage brokers, real estate brokers, and real estate investors who could bring us either mortgage notes for sale or new loan opportunities for loans not qualifying for commercial financing.  

There are a lot of other issues, but for you as the owner, the main one is usually do you have to have the current tenants out to build (no income) on to the existing property or are you going to do a knockdown new build?

Most people have a mortgage on their home when they sell it.

As I am seeing 1.2 or 1.4 million 2 family house and not sure if its even going to cover the mortgage or not with 25% done.