Watch the BP YouTube channel for some data relating to this this week!

I would definitely consider hard money again, but this time I'd try to put something in contractually in the commitment letter to protect my out of pocket costs, explain even better every single aspect about the property, etc. so that the underwriting is more based on objective data than simply someone's opinion. 

Once you get into the study material you might find that you love it or simply don't have the motivation even to study/pass a test. 

build a data base  be very polite ASK them if its OK to call in 6 months to see if anything changes..

Collect your own data, and make your own conclusions.

This could open up doors for off-market deals in the future- Access to market data- Ability to sell your own deals and collect commission to offset licensing and mls fees. 

I'm positive that we tested the draft but I sure will do again.

You just need to make sure you are in compliance with the howie test when selling a partial and how the deal is structured.

Given this fact, the first thing I'd do is find data for your specific community to see how it did during the last few recessions.

Next, take all of that data and figure out what market will help you execute the strategy to yield the cashflow numbers you need.