In-person interactions are great for building trust with potential investors.Real Estate Platforms:BiggerPockets: A robust platform for connecting with private lenders and investors.Fund That Flip, PeerStreet, Groundfloor: Online platforms connecting investors with real estate projects.Social Media Groups: Facebook and LinkedIn groups dedicated to real estate investing often have private investors or lenders looking to connect.Personal Network: Often overlooked, but friends, family, and colleagues may know individuals interested in investing.Private Money Brokers: If you're working on wholesaling deals, you may find brokers who have established relationships with private money lenders.Real Estate Agents: Some agents have connections with private investors, especially those focused on investment properties.For your 50% LTV, it's good to approach investors who may be interested in lower-risk, high-equity deals.

You are losing money on both properties. 

This is the scenario:I buy a fixer with some hard-money.

You've earned $132,000 more by splitting your money and leveraging it.

Alternatively, I could explore hard money lenders.

I will add that to your question of 10% or 20%, you need to ask yourself whether you need the cashflow or not. 10% down would leave some money with which to buy more properties.

The money spent doesn't make sense vs the increased rent.

At that point we hired an independent appraiser and the numbers came back good and the hard money lender agreed to use them.  

What may seem like a benefit (NO MONEY DOWN) is actually a curse!!  

There are less expensive hard money lenders out there.