Hi – My wife and I are working on closing our first investment property to flip soon. We will be using a combination of cash (for down payment) and probably a hard money loan for the remainder of the purchase price and construction cost. There is a local lender that provides rates between 10-15% depending on the down payment amount, plus 1-2 points. I feel this is high and wanted to ask savvy investors if this is on target for hard money lending? Especially for the Atlanta area.

Also, we have contacted a number of local general contractors and they all have passed on working with us because most do not do one flip jobs. So we will be utilizing subcontractors, and I wanted to find out how from successful flippers how you coordinate receiving bids on the cost of repairs before submitting a purchase price offer on a home? Or do you estimate to the best of your personal ability and fill in the gaps, time permitting, with some subcontractor estimates?

The Atlanta and surrounding areas are a hot market right now and my fear of waiting around to get estimates could equal losing out on opportunities. 

Regards,

Jeremy