@Puneet Mahi what about the required real estate brokers license to manage properties you do NOT own?

Hard money lenders are much more like banks and come with many restrictions, requirements, due diligence, fees, etc.

Many people choose Memphis because the market offers a good balance of cash flow and long-term appreciation.

A second STR in a market with year-round cash flow potential might balance out your portfolio and give you more consistent income.

Perhaps we "buy" the house from them for the $328K balance to satisfy the lender and don't need a large down payment and then have a separate contract with them to pay $x per month until we've paid the full $172K amount.

It's called a payoff statementif it's a big lender you will not buy the loan as it will take forever, you are better just paying it off. you then can foreclose based on the total balance owed to you which is both loans and any accrued interest. regarding fixing property or selling as is, that really depends and needs to be evaluated on a case by case basis 

In this case, since they are borrowing their payments, these would get added to the principal balance each month, and interest would be calculated on that.If, for example, the interest rate on the note were 10%, they would implicitly be borrowing their payments at that rate.

Principal balance currently at 314kProperty Details: It's essentially a "2-in-1" property, with the main unit rented out for $1,900/month and an attached ADU bringing in an additional $1,200/month.

@Marcus Stokes Starting your first fix-and-flip can be exciting but requires careful planning.

No one pulled a payoff to confirm the balance or looked at the latest statements before closing?