However, we want to save more money before purchasing that next home.

Invested in CD's or a money market account?

Selling costs time and money. 

In the end, I likely lost a good chunk of time and money by choosing price over performance.

It's a great way to increase your net worth and these loans can also be used to pull cash out of a property as it appreciates allowing you to reinvest money into new deals.Happy to connect to discuss further. 

One, I have enough money to cover a downpayment + reserves for future expenses for the property.

But when the check came back in the mail I spent the money on something else8.

It costs big money to place a resident - often a 100% of the first month's rent.

I used hard money and HELOC's on other properties How did you add value to the deal?

We double close if our fee is more than 20% of the purchase price because most hard money lenders will flag it if they see more than a 20% fee on the hud.