Is it more profitable than long term rentals?

I'm not sure why not - one of the great parts about real estate investing is that you can build a team around you for aspects you aren't as strong at or simply want to delegate to someone/expert and do the others yourself - look up "Core 4" for example - where you can have an agent, lender, manager, contractor all at once for your investments and can theoretically just let them do all the interactive work

The fix/flip might be a good way to get such a relationship started: usually has lower cash out of pocket requirements and you can sell the property faster to recoup the capital invested, plus any profits.

Calculate how much more in interest, lost profits, etc it will cost you to have this “blip” on your credit report.  

In my opinion, more important metrics are total profit and time spent managing the operation.All marketing works.

Congratulationswhat you’ve found that both the INVESTMENT side of real estate, and theBUSINESS side are very competitive; therefore profit margins are compressed, so those “home runs” people like to bragg about are actually quite rare.  

My humble advice to anyone attempting to do creative finance is:Creative finance is for experienced investors who have access to capital if anything goes wrong.Learn the lawsDon't use a contract "off the internet", laws vary by state and are also regulated on a federal levelLearn the financing techniques correctlyDon’t skip parts of the processDon’t ever do a “kitchen table” closingUse the proper deedAn attorney can help you with the legal work, but the rest you are on your ownYour guru will not bail you out“Investing” in someone else’s deal by providing a small 2nd loan so the “investor” can pay for “cash to the seller” and for “closing costs” so he can do the deal is a very bad planKnow what problems can ariseLearn the responses and solutions to problems before they are neededKnow everything there is to know about Title and what that meansKnow who a "protected class" individual isLearn the "back doors"Learn human natureUnderstand timelinesUnderstand regulation enforcement (some of these "mistakes" have a 10 year statue of limitations ( they can charge you 10 years AFTER you do the transaction) and carry hefty fines and possible imprisonmentThe court doesn't accept "I didn't know" for an answer"Know that the source of the lead plays a serious role in some states and federallyKnow how much of a "profit" pushes the boundaries to invite an investigationYou can be sued by the seller if you don’t do things correctlyYou are automatically at fault if an investigator or attorney or regulator gets involved.

Private Money is simply money from a non-institutional source...such as someone lending out of their personal IRA or from their savings. 

The borrower gets the benefit of having access to capital fast and the lender gets the benefit of charging a higher interest rate and not having to pay taxes on the profit.

I accidentally created two of the same posts since the first time I posted, it shows there was an error and did not go through, so I simply hit the post button again and it showed it posted but also that the first post that I thought had not gone through due to the error message in fact did go through.