It wasn't just about 'the highest and best' deal.Looking at my options in terms of what I had vs. their 'wants', I knew I already had a pre-qual letter and I was good to go.

We did not have the capital for this so we pulled out a 12 month zero APR credit card and put $40,000 on it. 

The confusion is a result of mistaking this letter with a pre approval letter from a credit based lending institution.

Amex loves to work with Real estate Investors and Realtors; with only one hard pull, you can get up to 5 Credit cards sometimes with 0 APR for 12 months.

Also another thing to consider is their will be a pre pay penalty on your hard money loan 

In the vast majority of my experiences, this is a pre-set item with developer as we are using these in new-built instances, getting handed a nice line-item breakdown from builder of everything to start from. 

Here are the numbers:Duplex purchase price $140,0003.5% Deposit $4,900 FHA Loan $135,100Mortgage payment $867.94 PITI (3.92 APR/30 year)PMI $56.29 (required with deposit less than 20%)Cash Flow = $800 - $867.94 - $56.29 = ($124.23).

It is a pre-foreclosure 3 bed, 2 bath 2660 sq ft property.

But if the sky's really falling then I don't think that math works much in the short term.

I have a pre-approval from a bank for 4.8, however, I am trying to see if I can get a lower rate from a portfolio lender.