Spent 4,300 lining up gap money for a flip that died before I ever borrowed a dollar

Nothing to show for this one, which is why I'm posting it.

I had a 2 bed cottage in a older part of town under contract at 142k, rehab I scoped at 46k, comps supporting 245k to 255k. Hard money lender approved 80% of purchase and 100% of rehab, so I needed roughly 28k of down payment plus 6k in closing costs and I had 11k.

So I went looking for gap money, which took seven weeks. Two people said no on the phone. One asked for 20% of profit and a first look at everything I did for the next two years, which I said no to. The fourth actually got to paper, 25k at 13% with 3 points, 9 months, secured by a second and a personal guarantee.

The money went out like this. I paid 1,900 to an attorney to review the gap note and the subordination language, because I didn't understand it and I wasn't going to sign it blind. That was money well spent, I'd do it again. I paid 750 for an inspection during my first extension of the inspection period, then another 600 for a structural engineer to look at a sagging rear addition the inspector flagged. I paid 1,050 in extension fees to the seller across two 21 day extensions while I was still hunting for the gap.

The engineer's report said the rear addition needed the foundation addressed, and his rough number was 18k to 24k. That put my rehab at 64k to 70k and my total in at 212k to 218k against comps I'd already been optimistic about. My hard money lender would fund the extra rehab but my down payment requirement climbed with the purchase side unchanged, so my gap went from 23k to about 23k plus whatever contingency I could no longer pretend I had. The gap lender read the engineer's report and pulled his term sheet in one email. I don't blame him at all.

I let the contract go. Total out of pocket 4,300, plus seven weeks I could have spent finding a different house.

What I'd do differently. I'd have gotten the engineer out in week one on a rear addition that anyone could see was sagging, before I paid a dollar to an attorney or a seller. And I'd line up the gap source before I have a property under contract, because negotiating for 25k while a closing date runs at you is how you end up looking at a term sheet asking for 20% of your profit and thinking about it for a whole afternoon.