I am not the person you are looking for; however, the more you engage people on this site, the more resources you will find.

Do background checks, call their references, current and previous employers, search social media sites and see what you can find about them.  

If you are a potential agent on this, and this is your "first rodeo" on a short sale, i'd engage an experienced short sale agent to assist you or share the listing.

Ok, now that you have taken your initial step, below are some quick links to get engaged. http://www.biggerpockets.com/starthere http://www.biggerpockets.com/ubg http://www.biggerpockets.com/meet Setting up Keyword Alerts How to Use @Mentions on BiggerPockets 25 Tips for Real Estate SuccessREI can be very daunting, but, before you go searching for that 1st buy, please take a few minutes to bone up on the tips in link below.http://www.realestate.com/advice/buying-your-first-investment-property/ However, this site thrives on interactions and as such we encourage two way exchanges and look forward to educational and thought provoking ideas relevant to REI.

Search on Social Networking Sites: There are a ton of social sites where you can find hard money lenders online.

If they need to post immediately they can "verify" their profile with social media.

If it's an individual, I once tracked someone down via social media.... facebook in that case... and just messaged them and it worked out quite well to open up some communication with a divorce situation that was in bankruptcy in that particular case.Just some thoughts..... hope that helps!  

First I would say run your business as a business not a social program.

Public pension plans, the biggest of which is Social Security, haven't been managed as well as many would like, but are not really broken.

The self dealing prohibitions and UBIT tax implications of engaging in a business (flipping) vs passive investments (renting, lending) would negate the benefit.A Rollover as Business Startup program would potentially be a good option for you.