I've been looking in the Midwest for cash flow properties, but lately have been toying with the idea of building SFR from the ground up with hard money.

Account Closed you have 2 items here to be aware of:Banks don't make a lot of money on smaller loans (so many don't write them)Buying with cash has a lot of rules to it (delayed financing, etc.)It might be hard to find a smaller lender in the area of the property so try to post on the Michigan forum to see if anyone can help with it. 

Eventually, if you are trying to get hard money or a credit line, this becomes much more of a factor.

I believe what set us a part was offering above asking price, putting up $50K earnest money, and having 20% of it go hard after Due Diligence ended.

Buyer / Tenant Falls on Hard Times51 Leading economic forecasters were surveyed and 45 of them said we should expect a recession in either 2020 or 2021.

Even if you would find any seller financing/master lease/or hard money lender, they would all require you to have reserve to be able to run the property at minimum of 6 months.

Sure, but it is hard and you will NEVER be at the top.

Your profile doesn't say where you are located, so it would be very hard for anyone to make a useful suggestion of books or resources.As a new member, there are several things you can do to increase the likelihood of getting helpful responses here on the forum.

Subject to money is a lot cheaper than hard money if I’m paying 4-5% interest instead of 10-15%.

I think you are making it too hard.