Become one of the inside players.

There are online lists of lenders, here are a few: scotsmanguide.com/ lvhardmoney.com moolahlist.com privatemoneylendingguide.com reiclub.com (has a directory on the site) creonline.com (has a directory on the site)Although I have advertised on some of them in the past, I would stay away from them unless you are at a last resort situation.

Use a hard money lender for a last resort.

After months ... well, maybe a year, of lurking, I've submitted my "introduction" post and made a few other small contributions to some of the fora.Now I've sat down to raise the questions responsible for my being here in the first place and I'm not exactly certain how to start ... so, rather than try to write eloquently, like any engineer, I'll resort to a bullet list of the facts ;-)1) As alluded in my introductory post (http://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/55/topics/88317-new-sort-of-in-canada ) I realise we have arrived at the point where, if we are to grow our real estate business to meet our objectives in a reasonable time period we need to start using other peoples money (OPM) to purchase properties.2) I've helped raise both private and public funds for startups in my past, so the principal and general process is not foreign to me.3) Despite the above two facts, I am presently seeing the task of approaching people for private financing as a "necessary evil" and am loath to do it.

It gets complicated if there is a long term option.I have not heard it called a french-S/LB so I looked it up, looks like the french govt. has tax benefits to encourage the scheme to provide more resort housing in resort areas with weekly rent agreements.

I don't mean to come off as too critical but given the players mentioned there is almost no chance you can make direct contact with a person who can give you private access to buying the property once the bank takes title.

Anyway, for any other young players out there, before you bid on a property you see online on hudhomestore.com, google 'HUD Discount Broker'.

Secondly, I invest in resort condos, which are managed by the hotels.

My opinion is that hard money should only be utilized as a last resort.

This option, that typically was the last resort in standard times, is now, in this climate (for both residential and commercial) the only other option.