The question being, do I have to have the property under any contract before applying for the hard money loan?

There should be legal documents that spell out the restrictions for the property.

I was wondering if it was legal and ethical to reach out to the owner or visit them at their alternate address to try to make a deal with them in advance.  

My father has been in the buying and selling (mostly commercial) in real estate for about 45 years and he has taught me a little bit.Always do a math analysis and look at your prospective properties before you make an offer or at least have a clause in the sales contract that allows you the time (about 15 days) to make a detailed inspection and possibly back out of the deal without a penalty that will hurt you too much.  

Say you get a contract for 50k for a home without the seller paying any of your closing costs.

Hi BP, I have a HUD property under contract.  

I am trying to get a deal worked out where we will purchase the properties very cheap, sign a contract that gives us 120 days to make a larger payment, and during the 1st 90 days rehab them, then on day 90 pull some equity out of them and use that cash to pay off the wholesaler.

Where is title companies in Flint, MI or Michigan that can do wholesale deals between the seller and middle man on purchase and sale agreement which can be assigned to the buyer on the Assignment contract which is between the middle man and the buyer.

I'm very new to the concept of wholesaling but I have a potential candidate for a wholesaling contract here in CT with a woman who needs to sale her house quickly. 

Do you have any pictures of some of the flips you have contracted?