@Scott Beatty It will depend on the lender.

I could continue to belabor this point, but I think you get it....Your best step forward is to read on the boards here, find a good mentor, real estate agent, good money lender (Bank, Mortgage Broker, someone you have done work for).

If the home is worth much more than what you are getting for it, then you can talk to your mortgage lender and see if they can use some equity in the home as your "down payment".

Considering I want to close no earlier than October 1st, how soon should I start talking to the hard money lender?

As long as you've accumulated sufficient equity, and your DTI ratio is fine with your Lender, using HELOCs as deposits (and starting new mortgages for the rest) is probably the best/easiest way to keep buying real estate - using NONE of your own money!

DOES ANYONE NOW ANY PRIVATE LENDERS THAT WILL GIVE YOU A LINE OF CREDIT WITH A 602 CREDIT SCORE.TANYETTE WIGGISON

I put 20% down and the private lender came in with 80% and added a $20K construction loan.

Additionally, I have a lot of clients that are private money lenders if you are ever in need of financing.

I know people who have 10+ houses that they bought and now manage - usually together with a private lender. 

I have my father's 30 year old contracting company at my disposal, I work directly with an in house mortgage lender at my office as well as a property management company (which I would primarily use on a consulting only basis to begin with) and I have 2-3 options for creatively financing my first few deals.