I think the overall "value" on can really influence the comfort level.

School systems heavily influence the rental market here.

"What Every Real Estate Investor Needs to Know about Cash Flow..." by Gallinelli"How to Win Friends and Influence People"

Invite CPAs and Financial Planners and Attorneys.You want the COIs (Centers of Influence) to refer their clients to you for finding and partnering, this meet up is not for finding private lenders directly.The touchdown for you is to get 1 or 2 of these professionals to allow you to do a presentation to THEIR clients in THEIR office.So I would get a lawyer and a title co to come in and network with these professionals.You are the organizer and the deal finder.See http://beta.biggerpockets.com/blogs/3/blog_posts/3...My blog post of what to say to new private lenders.Happy hunting for your private money!

Hard money lenders look at your experience more than anything given that each loan they originate is secured by the subject property their money is used to buy.A lot of them won't even look at your credit if you close the loan under an entity (such as an LLC) but your rate will very much be influenced by the fact that you don't have any experience.What is your legal status within the US?

Many local landlords are influenced by the actions of a few and their mindsets are stuck on negativity instead of real metrics of what is going on in the market.

Find out the one thing you can connect with her on (Win Friends and Influence People).

No matter what our personal feelings are, HAFA will no doubt be useful to some borrowers and we should not try to influence their decisions.

My biggest influences in real estate are Sterling White, Grant Cardone, and Biggerpockets.

A silent JV partnership with roles and responsibilities CLEARLY defined should prevent too much influence from your partner.