I'm about 7 days away from closing on my first real estate deal and the thought occurred to me that instead of wasting time (and closing costs) dealing with a bank for the initial loan, I could simply use myself as the source of "private money" for the entire purchase (~40k) for a home that I intend to rehab.The rehab is expected to take 3-4 weeks and I already have a reputable contractor with a written estimate in hand and the cost will be a ~25k additional (worst case) on top of that.  

Your reputable advice is much appreciated.

If my agent tried to force me to go through with the purchase just to protect their reputation as a 'closer' I would fire that agent on the spot! 

I am not interested myself in partnering, but I can connect you with some reputable real estate investors locally who you can talk with. 

The example they used was Morris setting up a liability policy for a situation where their reputation was destroyed and they got sued by investors.

I would line a reputable roofer up, get a materials list and just demo it yourself. 

some people don't want the innards of there house on the web.. worried about thieves.. etc.

Residential construction has a reputation for being unprofessional, and having been in commercial construction for years already, I feel my advantage would be the fact that I would run my company the way I’ve known construction companies to be run.

Reputable lenders?

Like Joe suggested, the Midwest has a reputation for being a great cash flow area.