If I can say, "hey, that's a pretty good deal, if I had money, I would consider buying it", or, "that's an awful deal, the want a kajillion dollars above market value", I would be ahead of the game.

A hard money lender may get you the funds needed for renovation, however they will want you to have substantial "skin" in the game.

Make sure they have skin in the game right from the start (equity and/or points). 

They were impressed I think.We were asking for 100% funding (no skin in the game) unless we have to.  

His answer yeah but the free drinks make up some of our losses and being in the game is exciting.

Overall, if we could repeat the exact same process I would probably be game, but it's harder and harder to find a lot or house that would work due to competition.

We are in the game for long term cash flow.

Docusign combined with dropbox has been a complete game changer for my business. 

It's always easier to work with a group than all on your own in the REI game.  

.#1 you can handle by doing some due diligence and filtering your list better; #2 is just a numbers game -- for every truly motivated seller, you'll talk to 10, 20 or 30 not-so-motivated sellers.