Real estate deals are everywhere today. The trick is actually finding the cash to close the deal. There are many different ways to get deals done, but today you really need to consider keeping as many properties as possible. The best way to get the money to close on deals today is with hard money loans. A hard money loan is a loan that is made based upon the ARV - after repair value of the property. Consideration is typically not given to the credit worthiness of the borrower, simply the value of the property. Generally speaking, 65% of the after repair value of the house is the maximum that hard money lenders will loan. Well. All of that changed when the real estate market crashed. Today, if you can find the lender, they have varying criteria's based upon their own business practices. What I typically have found is 50% of the ARV is the max that a hard money lender will lend in today's unstable market. The hard money brokers are also looking at your credit report today. Too many dings and you will not get the hard money mortgage loan that you are looking for, regardless of the deal. The third strike is you have to put 20% of your own money into the deal. Now if you had 20% to put down, you may be able to get other sources of funding other then private hard money loans, but then again probably not. Money is tight, put someone else's cash on your deal. I used to be able to get hard money second mortgages, and those have become nearly impossible themselves. So what is a real estate investor to do when attempting to get a residential hard money loan? You need to get educated. I was at a real estate seminar a couple months ago and one of the speakers kept going on and on about hard money loans. An associate of mine stopped the seminar and asked how he could get hard money loans still in this market. The speaker with no hesitation, said, "If you can't get hard money you aren't trying hard enough." He then went on for another half hour without going any more in depth about getting hard money mortgage loans in this market. Well, I was not satisfied with that answer. I needed to know how to get hard money more easily as my sources were drying up. I searched the internet and found various programs. They each have the same basic premise. Develop a great relationship with the local hard money loan brokers. One of the best ways is to attend your local real estate investor clubs regularly. There is an entire program that covers all aspects of finding the hard money lenders, developing the relationships, presenting the loan package the way they want, meeting with the appraiser. I found the best resource for hard money information at http://www.localhardmoney.com You can get the best hard money lender list in the country. The easy part is finding the deal. Deals are everywhere. The difficult part is getting the hard money. Start by building your relationship with the lenders and the sky is the limit.