When using Hard Money Lenders, should I first locate a property, then contact lenders or contact a Hard Money Lender first to see if I can get approved, then find property based on terms? Feel free to explain step-by-step!!!
Either way would work. You will have more credibility with the hard money lender if you spot a property first and then do your homework on the deal and terms when you approach them.
Herman
Most true hard money lenders care nothing about your credit, they are equity based and only care about the property, they want to make sure there is enough equity in it to cover there behind, usually 30-40 equity they need in it. But I also have a sub prime lender that can go to 70% LTV, true sub prime, I know, I thought the same thing…looks like the dinasour came back 
hard money is more about the property than anything else. Yet I always make sure I run a client by hard money first for many reasons. Its not always about you. The hard money lenders run out of funds at times for certain projects. There are many reasons why you should speak with your hard money lender first.
Seems they mostly just do it based on the property. If you default they get a property for 30%+ under the market price.
It seems quite difficult to actually get a hard money lender to put up all the money nowadays …especially if they are just basing their loan on their “appraised price” .
It seems most only want to loan like 65-70% of your purchase price so you still need to come up with a good amount of money down. In a market where REOs sell for near or above their asking prices…it’s not really possible to get something “under market” at least from what I am seeing.
I guess you are paying for the quickness and convenience of the money though it seems. Traditional lenders have more paper work and there are some properties they just might not want to lend on.