When people say hard money they always think of 12-14% interest and 2-4 points,,,but one thing most hard money lenders won't tell you, is that anyone can be a hard money lender.My 83 year old mother is making about 2% in money markets, I have used her as my hard money lender.She gets 10% interest plus 1 point,,she is more than happy, and I get a much better 'hard money rate", and help out my mom.The requirement is that you have to "refinance" a loan into conventional, not a house you paid cash for.

Hey BP, so I'm in the process of inheriting a house from my step-mother's estate.

:)In my years of helping people buy and sell real estate I've always had a deep passion for homes, I think partly from living my whole life in a small apartment in Upstate New York while my single mother was on welfare trying to make ends meet for a few years.

@Jennifer Fernéz Welcome to BP.My mother was born and raised in Reading, PA. 

You will be required to somehow prove that your failure to do what you promised was due to something completely out of your control, such as a non-voluntary job relocation or out-of-state mother in law that came down with cancer that caused you and your spouse to move to be closer to her until she passes away.If you cannot prove that this thing was completely beyond your control, your future mortgage loan application(s) will be denied until so much time has passed that there's nothing in your paperwork making it obvious that you did this.

My father and step-mother had recently retired and moved to the southwest coast of Florida (Sarasota, Venice, Englewood area).

The home was originally built with four units but the city said there wasn't enough parking (so each 5bd unit basically has it's own connected 1bd mother-in-law apartment with kitchen and everything).Here are a list of my concerns: 1) Deferred maintenance  (a lot of vinyl flooring in bad condition, original roof may need to be replaced in the next 5 years, etc...).  2) Fewer units make vacancies, or a bad tenant causing damage very costly. 3) I don't have the cash for the down - I either need to find a partner or sell or refinance an existing property.To address some of these concerns: 1) I have a handyman I've used for years who could hammer these things out on a schedule that I could afford.  2) I've never had an issue keeping my unit occupied (I've even had the same tenants in one unit for over 6 years).  3) I've never partnered, but I'm willing to do so now if I can find the right person.Please share your advice!  

Although they were good tenants overall and I was not out any money when they moved out, there were a LOT of weeks when I had to send reminder text messages on Tuesday (rent was due on Mondays) to bring the rent over.It gets annoying and I started feeling like a nagging mother instead of a landlady, lol.

Everyone is ready to sign then the mother goes " Hey we owe way more than that on ...

We almost got into a situation just like that  - we were going to buy it with a seller carry back  option and we were planning to build it out into a mother in law situation and make it an off grid houseand move into it with my father in law-  then when we moved out we planned to do a lease option to someone else who wanted a home with more land on it  -we figured we could ask more for it if we did a carry back on it and it was a little more developed - also figured it would be a few years so we could get some capital appreciation from it - but alas it was not meant to be and the home is not going to be available for sale any longer so that's not an option any more - it would have a primary residence before becoming an investment though,  so probably a different situation -