I don't have a large sphere of influence yet so I am thinking private money may be out of the question for the near future.  

Each step you take reveals a new horizon.

Feel free to private message.

They failed to attract the really great developers and commercial real estate pros that are needed to successful manage a project with complicated and relatively expensive financing solutions - these developers weren't crowdfunding in many cases until AFTER they had raised some private money, gotten some commercial loans, invested personally, and THEN raised the last chunk through the crowd.It is therefore my opinion that the opportunity to enter this particular niche of crowdfunding will be difficult for new entrants.Instead, it seems that crowdfunding portals are having much more success financing DEBT for real estate deals.

@Kenneth Jackson,About the only option you have is to learn how to team up with money partners, whether that's private lenders, other investors or hard-money.Read up on self-directed retirement accounts and how folks can use them to take more active control of their earnings on their retirement savings.When you can show folks how you can get them 12% to 20% return on their money versus the beating their savings has taken on Wall Street - 50% to 90% losses, you'll soon have more money available than you can find deals to do.There was a post in another thread about the biggest mistakes newbies make.

Keep in mind that if you contact a private lender, the first questions they will ask will be about your deal.

I think I may be inputting wrong or confused as to what numbers/costs go where in the calculator since I'm initially using private money, then doing a cash-out refinance while using my own cash for renovations....

and I don't like either of the two I have seen; double closing (with the high costs) or HUD-1s that don't reveal the purchase price to the seller.

Each step you take reveals a new horizon.

I am keen to know how private lenders rates usually compare vs banks.