A hard money lender is a professional lender that loans to investors that he or she may not know.

a dollar to anyone with half a conscience about real estate will just laugh at that.I had one guy send me a contract with a 15 dollar EM.. so U can imagine my response.. he had some BS excuse and I said well if you have all your money tied up and can only handle 15 bucks . then I am not interested.if your going to do this you have to be professional.. and EM is part of it.. not to mention if you are not closing and just trying to assign that's illegal in FLA.. so you have that double whammy

Have any other professionals (contractor, roofer, etc.) evaluate the property based on inspectors findings.F.  

Also do a member search on here to connect with local professionals and that can't hurt either.

In NJ and PA, I am very aggressive with my marketing (local letters, weekly open houses, free staging, professional photos, great descriptions.)

I hate to be this guy but this is very much an "answered by a paid professional" question.

What you need is a professional specializing in this area to provide you with the property guidance, there are several of us (myself including) who are active here on the forum.

Go find a seasoned professional in your desired niche. 

How do you ensure that you become the senior lender?

Realtor is a member of professional association made up of agents, brokers, sometimes ancillary members including lenders, lawyers.