I am looking to invest in CA as well as out of state so if anyone has recommendations for a nation-wide lender, please advise!

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I would absolutely select a PM first.

Or are you going to do a wide variety of investing?

I wouldn't mind some training about how to select the right note (fast -with no fluff).  

A build in an area where people are happy with minimum wage labors at 10/hr widely differs from an area where you can't find anyone who will work for 18/hr like los angeles.

What should I assume costs would be to determine how to select a lender?

@Kristen DolotinaEven if someone give you a referral, what meets their expectations, may not meet yours.In our experience, the #1 mistake owners make when selecting a Property Management Company (PMC) is ASSUMING instead of CONFIRMING.It's often a case of not doing enough research, as they don't know what they don't know!

They updated the site to show my current offer and it says:Time Remaining: No Limit - Best OfferI had to select 7 or 14 days for the my offer to expire, I'm wondering if they'll wait the full 7 days to see if they get a higher bid before they come back and accept/reject mine.

We have chosen to ration our capital and be more selective with project selection instead of leveraging more and using hard money for our projects.