With a minimum 30-day rental period, tight registration criteria limited to permanent residents, and associated compliance costs such as fees and taxes, entering San Francisco's STR market without first examining these restrictions may result in problems and severe fines.

Enter recurring charges and automatic late fees.

Sheriff service is $50.00 per defendant, if you request it.

I actually had to get enough units where I could offer tenants multiple housing options when I purchased properties rented at way under market rates and then (an embarassing number of times) personally watch tenants that would "suffer" from a rent increase turn down smaller (but nicer places) or  nicer places in a less prestigious zip code (sometimes only minutes away) before I realized that I was hampering my ability to earn a living in order to subsidize the lifestyle choices made by a some random stranger that happened to live in a property I bought.

We all understand you want to save on fees and have the lowest rate.

This also allows for a newer investor to network, partner, and build relationships with lenders early on, so they are not stuck trying to find lending options that will consistently throw them high interest rates and higher origination fees. 

You may have to pay a fee but they will still only go out if you are very serious about making the offer "right now" if they give you "good news".

I make millions per year as a commercial broker.

 $250,000 gain per spouse.  

Hard money is sort of a last resort, that's typically meant to be a short-term solution and will carry a higher rate and/or fees compared to most other options.