Many parks offer a rent-to-own option where they carry the note for the unit and that starts to get into SEC rules for lending. 

Real estate investing is a great way to build wealth but you have to understand what your personal goals are and what you are willing to do to achieve them.Flipping is not for everyone and carries the most risk of any type of real estate investing.

I have enough for the 20% and she has mentioned that she would be willing to carry the note.

I have enough for the 20% and she has mentioned that she would be willing to carry the note.

I have more confidence to carry out what we are hoping to do!

First, they usually carry a variable interest rate, meaning that as rates go up or down, your loan reflects that.

Don't carry balances on the credit cards if you can avoid it.  

That will always answer the question as if you should use a hard money loan or not.Hard money loans should only be used when the potential purchase needs rehab/improvement.Personally, I am happy to use a hard money loan if it will help me realize a MINIMUM of a 100% return on capital gain after all expenses (purchase, rehab, lender fees, carrying costs, and selling costs) which means I have effectively doubled my money. 

Anyway, I don’t have the cash to buy AND rehab plus carry (I can do one not both).

The lender said maybe the owner would carry the entire note until we can make the improvements to get it refinanced conventionally.