(This is not a binary question, only two points along a spectrum.)Achieving the 1% rule—or even the 2% rule— in the Triangle is possible, but you need to consider such factors as the age of the property, number of bedrooms, school districts, bus lines, thoroughfares…the usual suspects, alongside your objectives and tolerance for risk.

The thing is, your typically hard money lender seems to have gone to the extreme end of the spectrum.

For me, it helped to start a giant wiki (wordpress) with very broad general categories.

That said, my basic premise of a zip code generally being too broad is very often correct.I haven't been on Stevens in a long time and I'd have to drive it to say with certainty but my strong suspicion is that it likely won't appeal to decent tenants. 

Shannon, your questions are very broad and therefore can have multiple answers/opinions.

This may be a broad question, but I am intrigued to no end on how to make money on this for myself and others.Thanks in advance,Glynn

HMLs certainly break down broadly into HML companies with staff and funded largely through outside capital, and solo HM lenders using their own funds and potentially some other capital as well.

And J Scott's The Book on Estimating Rehab Costs was invaluable for understanding how to think about projects, how to manage them, and broadly how much things cost.Send me a PM if you want to chat more about it, and good luck to you!

I know homes that meet my criteria will be on the lower end of the cash flow spectrum and I'm OK with that.

It is more likely that the agent you are speaking with is either assuming information on one end of the spectrum or the other.