first and foremost ANY Nevada based lender must be state licensed and NMLS licensed.check with state and NMLS registery to see if they are licensed first.. if not.. then well you have your answer.1% up front is not common or acceptable in most instances. lendinghome will fund your deals.. go to their website.. they charge 199 per submission but they really lend.. no worries of joker brokers.. ( and I am not calling JDB a joker broker per se') just that there are tons' of lending scammers out thereup front fee's are HUGE red flags in the industry and are to be avoided.. if your doing a simple fix and flip for a SFR type property... then no up front fee other than a very modest one to a VERY large firm should be paid.

These few unscrupulous agents often make erroneous claims about their relationship to the seller and their authority to present the property - they are the proverbial "joker broker".  

Between now and then, I will be stashing large sums of cash to be used as equity for that endeavor. 

I would build up a stash of money for emergencies then start paying one of the mortgages down if that is your goal.

Unless you have a great opportunity to stash your equity from a sale, I don't see why you should do anything.

Driving some joker around to see countless properties can be an expensive gamble if they don't actually follow through.

Always included with those jokers responses is how the returns in LA or other Cali location are really bad.

@Randall Brown Good to know my petty criminal is not the only joker out there with a half-baked concept of liens!

Also, I am stashing away $4,000 in savings each month in preparation for opportunities and safety at the moment.  

My question is at what point in time to you feel that you no longer need to stash 15% per month in savings for repairs for a property?