Hard money lender nightmare stories

[Mary Joe]

Hi All, would like to educate myself about hard money lending (as an investor), wonder if there are HML investors out there who have had bad experiences and willing to share?

For example, want to know what is the worst that could happen as a hard money lender;  did you have to foreclose on a property and how overwhelming was the process? How much of your principal did you recoup etc etc?

Are hard money lenders essentially like investing in a 2nd mortgage , so if anything bad happens, I will be 2nd in line after the bank?

Thanks

MJ