- what about being a private lender instead?

As mentioned, a lender is not going to put money in an account.

Wholesalers will send you properties that fit your buy box, and you can work directly with them and a hard money lender to get the deal closed. 

I have looked at many hard money lenders before pulling the trigger.

I enjoy networking with private lenders and ending deals to and from

Currently just have an agent I found through BP and a lender in that area that I've been bouncing most of my questions off of.

You would need to talk to the lender you choose to work with.

It really shows you're stable to lenders as well when you've held down a job for a few years. 

if you do not have US citizenship, a green card, or a visa, make sure that if you are seeking financing that you either have a US co-sponsor or your lender can lend to foreign nationals.

Several things to contribute here: 1) Private Lenders with no credit experience emerge doing down payment and 100%/High LTV financing at the end of every cycle, 2) they're among the first to loose their shirts in every downturn, 3) although someone termed this type of lending "gator", it's not new, 4) the guy that coined it didn't get into real estate untill well after the last crash, 5) he has no real credit background or experience (he's never been a lender), 6) Google the guy's name and "looses professional license in AZ" to see what pops up, and finally 7) he's really effective at telling people what they want to hear, filling their heads full of hopes and dreams, getting them to buy his training, and his minios generally won't want to hear what a real, seasoned lending vet will try to tell them.