Meet the agents who are the big players in that area.  

Hey boss this buyer is a major player he wants me making 20 offers a day etc etc.. the rookies fall for this.. experienced agents tell them to take a hike.I would then ask my agent to invite this so called big shot 20 offer dude in to the office I want to vetter them for you.. usually by the time I was done with them.. the pretenders just kind of slinked out .. the players I took to lunch and golf   LOL...

Location, location, location its ripe for the picking so to speak but there haven't been any major players that I know of trying to snag the deal.

I'd suggest checking out the "communities" tab then scrolling down to events, take a look at the REA's in that area and start networking with the local players.  

I'm considering lending to Hard Money Lenders to i) put some capital to work, and ii) network with other players in my target market (flippers, GCs, attorneys, etc.) that I might work with down the line.As someone still learning the ropes of real estate investing myself, how should I go about vetting potential Hard Money Lenders?

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This will introduce you to like minded individuals and allow you to get to know who some of the players in your market are.  

Go to the local RIG meeting its once a week you will meet all the players there in Jackson its a fairly tight knit investing community.. bunch of nice folks

Now the town is stuck with them like an online retailer that went all in on DVD players and corded headphones when everything has now gone to streaming and Bluetooth...  

If you have not studied and don't understand real estate principals and the fundamentals, you won't know what to look for because you won't know what a deal looks like.You are competing in a world of serious players who have done their homework, paid their dues, performed the research, made the business connections and now they typically have too much capital chasing too few deals.Where does that leave you?