There is no need to do bank financing.. especially in this market.There are also many private lenders who would be glad to put up all or part of the money IF you buy below market.

So, lets say I was able to locate a a decent retail or apartment with some value add play and I was to use my private lender to fund the deal; would I be able to refinance with a local bank as long as the income from the property was able to support the debt?

Over the years I've made some bad decisions and guess still making em, I.e. investing in stocks, over the board lifestyle, kids going to private schools, big house, expensive cars etc.I just turned 40 and all of sudden I realized that I don't have significant savings, what if something goes wrong and I cannot continue working or suffer a huge loss.I had to set a goal for myself and my goal is to earn atleast $25K/month passive Income in next 4-5 years.

There is also the hope that The Bellamy will expand and buy the street.I assume you can send private messages on BP but I don’t know how.

And even if I could, what we pull out would barely give us enough to buy another property.So, do I search for private lenders?

Bill too many factors would weigh into this.You are looking at hard money with very high carrying costs at 60% occupancy as a regular lender won't touch it.Too easy to go from 60% to 40% or lower and the new lender has a fresh foreclosure on their hands.Unless you pay cash you will need a HML or private money and will have to pay low to get it to cash flow until you can refi into a lower debt service once stabilized.Is this a local,regional,or national bank??

You can use dummy listing with unheard of prices example: 4/3 3,000sqft with private lake $25,000.

He knows I have done profitable rehabs in the past and that's a good thing but this will be my first with private funds.

The firm MUST be a licensed Broker/Dealer and you MUST have a Private Placement paperwork including your subscription documents and prospectus.

So, try LOC first, and private money next, lock up favorable long-term financing on holds that provide cash flow and you are good to go.