Hello BiggerPockets Community,I’m currently in the process of expanding my real estate portfolio and am looking to establish relationships with hard money lenders who can offer the most competitive and lowest rates available in the market.I am a business owner with $1.5 million in verifiable funds.

My goals are to provide financial freedom for my future family and establish a sustainable safety net if physical limitations prevent me from retiring from my current W-2s.

Each step my cash took along the path of my plan was established based on how (strategy used), where (market invested in), and when (cash needed to move onto the next deal (the plan).Each step required a specific amount of added cash exiting the deal as required by the next step, so I did deals that may have a cash profit that someone else wouldn't have done because they were looking at a disconnected result. 

Overall, this deal has allowed us to establish a solid foundation Lessons learned?

Older homes are typically in more established neighborhoods.

This really caught me off guard and I personally felt as if this was a bad way to establish a relationship with a new client.

I am keen on establishing connections with fellow professionals such as entrepreneurs, builders, real estate agents, and architects operating in this domain.

It's going to take longer and be more difficult than you expect.The beginning of my journey was establishing a good income, living below my means, and a live in flip.

Not much more you can do until you establish ownershipGino

I have simple-sub ($5.00 a month) meters established at a few of my other duplexes to calculate water usage among my units and automatically calculate/split/bill tenants.