@JC Wu - I’m sorry you lost money in your investment.

My plan is to buy the house subject to their existing mortgage, renovate the property, refinance it and pay off their remaining loan balance using the money from the cash out refinance.

I would focus on saving enough money that if I had a deal go bad, then that money I saved was there to cover it. 

In-person interactions are great for building trust with potential investors.Real Estate Platforms:BiggerPockets: A robust platform for connecting with private lenders and investors.Fund That Flip, PeerStreet, Groundfloor: Online platforms connecting investors with real estate projects.Social Media Groups: Facebook and LinkedIn groups dedicated to real estate investing often have private investors or lenders looking to connect.Personal Network: Often overlooked, but friends, family, and colleagues may know individuals interested in investing.Private Money Brokers: If you're working on wholesaling deals, you may find brokers who have established relationships with private money lenders.Real Estate Agents: Some agents have connections with private investors, especially those focused on investment properties.For your 50% LTV, it's good to approach investors who may be interested in lower-risk, high-equity deals.

Happy to be here - and good to have a good hard-money lender as an option!

Forget trying to walk them through a simple repair over the phone, to avoid sending a ServiceTech and saving an owner money.

For me it’s been a blessing and money well spent.

He's an educator and does make money selling education, but like most of the others doing this, he began by doing deals.

If you don’t want to spend money I’m pretty sure you could get someone to grade the surrounding dirt and add some gutters for your $5k discount and gain you will have added value and come out ahead.

If you want higher growth then Cleveland and Dayton type markets with $100-150k prices may be better suited.I would encourage BRRRRs after your 1-2nd so you can recycle your money.