typically no special license is needed when doing it for hard money loans that I am aware of. there may be states like california and nevada that are tricky where lenders need a license of some sort but for most part brokers i have seen are not licensed. 14 or 15 states require state license and NMLS registration.

It generally isn't worth the brain damage of experimenting though....especially if you want to move to a new home that you will own inside of the typical lender's seasoning period.

The price point for a positive cash flowing single family house rental is typically 120-180k purchase price here so I am sure you'll be able to scale very quickly here with the capital you're working with.

I’ve had more success filling vacant units by word of mouth/ networking with other agents in my market recently than I have through the typical advertising methods.

@Kris Lou Be careful with agents as 95%+ of them really only know how to handle owner-occupied transactions.We don't do biz in Indianapolis, so this is unbiased info we hope you find useful:Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

Quote from @Michael Challenger: I have no qualms with hard money lending, but I need to learn more about the process and structure to these for typical deals so that I am more comfortable and in a position to reduce my personal risk and risk to investors as much as possible.

Hi Angus, A cash-out refinance is typically not considered a taxable event for businesses since the borrowed funds are regarded as liabilities owed to the lender.

What % is typically required these days? 

@Augusta Owens here's some copy & paste info you won't find in a book:)-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Recommend you first figure out the property Class you want to invest in, THEN figure out the corresponding location to invest in.Property Class will typically dictate the Class of tenant you get, which greatly IMPACTS rental income stability and property maintenance/damage by tenants.If you apply Class A assumptions to a Class B or C purchase, your expectations won’t be met and it may be a financial disaster.If you buy/renovate a property in Class D area to Class A standards, what quality of tenant will you get?

This is typically the single biggest electricity draw in most homes.