If you find a local realtor and loan officer who specializes in investing in your area, start having conversations to get up to speed on your market.

First, **reliability and speed** are crucial—hard money loans are often used for time-sensitive deals, so you want a lender who can fund quickly.

That being said, I read some (old) reviews that said payments had been hung up (withdrawn from the tenant but not deposited into the landlords bank account longer than 10 days) and customer support was ZERO and their 'ticket' program kept automatically closing out the ticket request without resolution.

I buy through a couple of exchanges, but recently have been using SwanBitcoin as you can set up automatic withdrawals on weekly or monthly purchases for dollar cost averaging.

Impossible to tell which would benefit you most.I have found that lenders value the house in different ways; one is a full appraisal and the other is an automatic valuation…my credit union did a “drive by” valuation.  

Prior to that, I was a subdivision title officer at Fidelity for seven years. 

I've built a system where I can drag/drop any bill into a Google Drive folder, and I have some systems set up to split the bill evenly among tenants, automatically bill my tenants, and even send them an email with the breakdown. 

Rates have now decreased from averages in the mid-7's to now upper-5's, yet the market has not seen a "speed up" -- likely due to the seasonal swing, and the upcoming election. 2025 should see strong property value growth, with increased inventory, but also increased buyer activity with rates expected to continue downward. 

Automating your finances by setting up automatic payments and using software to track income and expenses will save you time and help with organization.It's also important to manage your time effectively.

Also have your realtor set you up, so you automatically get an email any time a listing comes up that fits your criteria...and check MLS regularly.Look to see who the listing agents are as some specialize in condos (or certain buildings) and they may be able to let you know when they are going to list a place and you can be the first one in.