When the investment conversation and participation moves from the classes (the professionals, the experienced and the educated) to the masses it is an indicator of froth if not a market top.

@Chris Heeren, I understand and agree with not wanting to be leveraged 100% of the ARV; I actually had a conversation with my wife after we got close to the closing date, realizing that we actually payed to much from an investment standpoint, not because of the numbers, but because we lost access to the capital that we put into the property.

How will you be paying your private lenders since there will be no rent collected?  

You can't magically buy something at a 9 cap and then recapitalize with private investors at a 7 cap.

It took me 6 months to build my private practice.

I come up with enough money for the down payment on the property via the private loan.

Yet, after listening to you it almost seems like we should be searching out other deals and getting money from private people as early as possible.Much like you I have a little experience in construction from my college days (working for a contractor on my days off from school and over summers but I'm not a craftsmen), so there is a small advantage there, but ultimately it sounds like if I want to get to that "freedom number" faster, or at least earlier, I'm going to have to figure out how to scale.I'm under no delusions that I am an expert after one deal, but I thought that after doing 2-3 deals and making them successful we would then have the creditably to get loans from others to really acquire some volume. 

The only time you are really paying your realtor is if its a FSBO (For Sale By Owner) or a private deal, and you are bringing in a realtor to represent you.

Can you use a private lender to purchase properties at the court house during auctions?

What closing costs should I include in my pro-forma if I were to purchase a wholesale deal with private money?