Is your goal to set yourself up financially for the rest of your life and retire early or is your goal to make as much extra cash as possible right now.

A couple things to note if you are going online to look for private lenders... there are differences in expectation depending on who's calling themselves a private lender.First are the true private money lenders that lend their own money from a retirement account or want to put cash to work and earn interest and points to local investors that they know and trust.Next are private lenders that have raised capital for their fund and underwrite deals based on more stringent criteria.

Some of the bigger ones are Memphis Invest/REI Nation, Mid South Home Buyers and Rent to Retirement.

  :) I've used credit card loans, retirement loans, and HELOCs to buy real estate, but I didn't exactly say what I was using it for. 

This would provide me the capital necessary to fund my real estate business and get it off the ground and also provide a conservative reserve for unknown expenses.Effectively, I'd be making the decision that I can actively manage my real estate portfolio in a way that will generate a return better than the stock market (index funds via 401(k)).I've been a passive index fund investor for years and the thought of decreasing my retirement account contribution is painful.

There are other riskier assets that I think should go up but they are far more of a gamble so I am using our retirement money for those.

Educated Investors retire (FIRE) in a few years off these.

So if a borrower needs to move due to a change in employment, closer to school, closer to work, move into a bigger home GLA due to growing family, move into a smaller home GLA due to retirement or handicap, or simply moving out of state.If what you were saying was correct that would mean a borrower/buyer could not move out of state and buy a new home if they purchased an FHA home 6 months ago?

We started buying properties 3 years ago, cash, to diversify, protect our retirement and make some income.

My thought is that I could do a 30-year loan on the 700,000 house, and then when it's time to retire in 13-15 years, I could just sell my current primary residence, which would be paid off by then, and then that would be enough to pay off the remainder of my new house's mortgage.