Long story short - I was put in contact of the owner of a very, very dilapidated home (in Los Angeles). The home has been vacant for years and the person who'd lived in the house previously was a hoarder. The family is aware that the home needs a lot of work. I told the owner I can close fast and I'd like to buy the home.

A week later the family real estate agent called and said they'd be interested in selling "as is" for cash. They are wrapping up some internal legal issues and will be ready to sell within a month.

My current situation is that I have around 170k of my own cash to work with, but I'll need an HML for the rest. I have one lined up. Numbers wise, I'm estimating it'll be around 3-350k to acquire + another 100k for rehab. ARV in the 580-600k range.

My questions -

* Ideally I'd like to have the HML cover the home acquisition, and then use my cash cover the rehab and holding costs. Wondering at what point to tell the agent that I'll be using an HML? I figure that if I sent the HML all the home/area info asap and have them do their due diligence sooner than later, it'll be a smoother transaction?

* Also - The sellers family agent hinted at a dual agency situation. I have an agent in my family that I trust and am very comfortable with, and I'd hate to not use him. But I can also imagine that a dual agency situation might even get me a better deal?

Thoughts?

Thanks so much for your time and expertise!