I'm looking for information from hard money lenders and folks who have used hard money lenders before:What, exactly, is the process for securing a hard money loan for a fix-and-flip?  

From what I've been looking into its better to pay a bit more and have that security but Ill see what John offers, ill keep you posted.Cheers!

I would find a secured credit card with the lowest interest rate as possible.

I find the whole concept of securing a property with a contract without the full intention to complete the sale unethical- why not be up front with people? 

Since we are new to REI and recent grads at the same time, we do not have enough cash nor able to secure private money for the time being (we want to have a track record before seeking out partnerships).

Remaining tax would be total taxable gain less depreciation recapture less PAL carryforward (from "unused" depreciation expense)Alternatively, could I not depreciate the property (which i did not do for the past 2 years in error and need to file amendments) and file a Form 3115 (application for change in accounting method) in the year in which I sell the property to catch up and claim all the the missing depreciation all at once?

If I read this rightGross Income Reported is $81900Vacancy 5%GIR-Vac @ 5% is $77805NOI $55805From what I can calculate that works out to a 9.71% cap rateWhich puts the est Property Value at $541,867 That's not too far off which is good.With the 50% method and using 10% Vacancy Rate, it drops the value down to $357,862 Gross Income Reported $ 81,900 Vacancy 10% GIR -VAC $ 73,710 NOI $ 36,855 Listed Cap % 9.71 Est Prop Value $ 357,862 Now again my math may be off but I think that you should be somewhere between those 2 numbers on price and of course that will depend on a lot of other factors and how conservative or aggressive you want to be with your numbers. 

However, even getting this done takes a lot of maneuvering and there's a risk the seller will send a third party to secure the property when they realize its vacant and they still wont allow you access.

I don’t think that oil itself is a bad heating method.

Hey Frank, I'm new to BP and RE investing  (I've made several offers but no deals secured yet) so take my advice with a grain of salt but I think what you're going to get a lot of is...