You certainly 'can' work directly with the builder, but you will NOT save any money by doing so.

The main strategy I am studying is the BRRRR and how we can apply it to the spanish market and laws so the investments can be replicable again and again without leaving big sums of money in the deals.Nice to meet you and hope we can help out each other and other Spanish members.Barry 

Alternatively, if something were to arise in our life (emergency or otherwise) while this money was tied up in an investment, we're left with few good options. 2) Time is not something I have much of.

Has anyone here used Monarch money?

Two years ago, it was higher and sellers wanted money hard day 1 in a lot of markets.I would ask brokers and property management companies and attorneys in the marketGood Luck!

But within that same segment, there is portion that is designed to EXPLOIT beginners (in my opinion)... because they (A) know you have money to spend or you wouldn't be looking into real estate; and (B) if they put together a slick enough package together people will bite.  

I actually don't like middleman banks almost as much as I don't like middleman property managers. lolIn this day in age, I should be able to have access to my money whenever I want, without jumping through hoops: two-factor authentication, giving my SSN, DOB, address, verifying over the phone, etc.

There is no worse lead source than Facebook if you don't make them jump through hoops to register, meaning, make it harder for them or you spend all your time chasing mice.

If this is a commercial/hard money lender, this does not exist.

I'm not scared to spend money.