It seems frighteningly easy to walk into a bank and request an unsecured personal line of credit or even an unsecured commercial line of credit (w/personal guarantee). Is there a better alternative for borrowing money to purchase lots or land? I would rather have a secured line of credit on the land purchase but most BP posters are saying no banks will underwrite buying undeveloped dirt.

Alternatively, I am interested in learning more about private money but contrary to conventional lending it seems like private money lenders want to take all of the potential profit out of your pocket just to borrow the investment capital needed to get a deal started. Hence I keep falling back on the decision to look into  personal or commercial unsecured lines of credit. I would rather pay 6.75% to 9.5% to borrow from a bank then the terms private money lenders are asking even for people with good credit and higher earnings.

Anyone have any different experience or suggestions?