This could let you start building relationships with others in your area (and potentially lead to joint ventures later) and to build up your working capital.

And it will be a big asset when building credible relationships.

You are describing it like you would a personal relationship.

Starting a hard money lending company makes sense to me since I have hundreds of contacts in this business that I've built relationships for years, as well as it aligns with my origination background. 

I would be careful about sourcing these types of lists from other operators, it takes awhile to build relationships with various companies and most of the company contacts don't like their information being passed around

We are working on our second team and let's just say this WILL NOT be a long term relationship. 

We are still waiting for them to forward a check settling our accounts, months after cutting off business relationships.

One lesson learned: Create a good relationship with contractor and shop around for the best pricing on materials.

The first rehab he led turned out nice, but at times was rough because we have a different relationship than most employee/employer.  

This deal and the one before it came about from networking, building a relationship with my property manager, an investor friendly realtor, and learning what makes a deal a deal.