If the person hasn't paid the mortgage for long enough for it to go to foreclosure (6-24 mo), there are so many fees the original mortgage has ballooned in cost.

(Email and letter).

They are typically 5 year balloon. 

Do you know of any books, websites, news letters, etc I should be reading?

I was able to attend 4 or five meetings of the REI Club and everyone I talked to suggested to start off wholesaling, which sounded impossible, so I gave it a try.For the next two years I bought a roll of stamps every month and mailed 100 letters at a time.  

Then a few bucks left to send hand written letters to all owners that you found. 

Specifically I'm looking for a hard money loan / private financing for a 18 month term with interest only payments & a balloon at the end of the term.Hampton Suffolk Chesapeake Virginia Beach Portsmouth Norfolk Newport News

MOLD is a four letter word and you should NOT mess around with it.Good Investing...

Another thing to consider is to figure out any financing you will need and get a loan letter that says the average closing time for your loan and the maximum amount you qualified for.  

So the big bank LO had an incentive to play the "yah yah yah you will be fine, sure, here's your preapproval letter, yah yah yah" game.