Clay Sparkman
With the decline of real estate prices and concern about the global economy, there is a lot of speculation regarding the timeline of this recession. In conversations with brokers, investors, and developers throughout the country, the topic often turns to one common question: what’s going on out there? I’ve heard what the experts say, [...]
General perspective
What’s Going On Out There?
Friday, February 3rd, 2012Private Money – 5 DONT’s and 5 DOs
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011Clay Sparkman
I would say that as much as 75% of our loans are initiated by third-party loan brokers. We rely heavily on our wholesale broker relationships and dearly value the strong working relationships that we have. As much as we love our relationships with brokers, it is an ongoing challenge to develop new relationships.
Perhaps the [...]
Don’t Believe Everything You Hear About Private Money
Monday, September 12th, 2011Clay Sparkman
This week I’d like to address some myths about private money, and hopefully correct some common misconceptions that seem to exist with regard to private money lending as an alternative mechanism for funding the refinance and acquisition of real estate.
Myth: As a broker, I should first try to use conventional bank financing, and if [...]
As goes Miami …?
Saturday, July 30th, 2011Sorry to be so long away from you. I guess the lazy days of summer have been calling. I would like to share an article that I read recently in the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/27/business/affluent-buyers-reviving-market-for-miami-homes.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
It seems that the Miami market, one of the worst hit during the real estate turn down, is on the mend, and [...]
Won’t somebody please call a plumber … the banks are clogged
Tuesday, April 19th, 2011Clay Sparkman
This article was originally posted on my lender blog in January of 2010. Now, some 15 months later, it still seems pretty much timely, That worries me. I’d like to hear your thoughts on this matter. You brokers are the real experts. Please give voice.
One of my dear good readers sent the following e-mail [...]
Don’t get mad, get going
Thursday, March 10th, 2011Clay Sparkman
It is often quite difficult for professionals to get a sense of what hard money is all about and to know when it is the best option for putting a transaction together. I have found that the best way to teach is by example. So to that end I will profile some sample loans [...]
How to broker private money loans when real estate markets are uncertain
Sunday, March 6th, 2011Clay Sparkman
We’ve been through nearly 3 ½ rough years in the real estate market—and projections seem to indicate that we will finally see clear up-turn in the second half of this year, but no one really knows for sure. We have managed to survive this down-time (all who are still present please take a moment [...]
The private money lending business: likes and gripes (part III)
Friday, February 4th, 2011Clay Sparkman
I finished Part II with a brief mention of something I quite like about the trust deed system: that is, the option (generally available) to foreclose judicially.
Before moving on, I’d like to offer you a crude little decision tree which shows how investors might go about making the decision whether to foreclose a given [...]
The private money lending business: likes and gripes (part II)
Thursday, January 13th, 2011Clay Sparkman
In Part I, I began a discussion of my gripes and likes regarding the private money lending business and various industry related matters, items, and issues. I allowed myself to amble a bit far afield and concluded by mentioning a book about the legal profession which I personally found to be informing and entertaining. [...]
The private money lending business: likes and gripes (part I)
Wednesday, January 5th, 2011Clay Sparkman
Awhile back I published a 3-part post on my Private Money Investor blog regarding my personal likes and gripes as a purveyor in of private money. This has been my sole job for the past 20 years. Who wouldn’t want to go rant and rave publicly about their job? I guess I could have [...]
A story of adaptation: or how to survive and succeed in a challenging real estate market
Sunday, November 7th, 2010Guest post by Matthew Whitaker, Managing Member of Magnolia Partners, LLC and Golden Key, LLC
In December of 2007 we were faced with a decision. After three years of successfully flipping properties to low and moderate income buyers, we awoke one day with no buyers and no plan to find new ones. Our dilemma [...]
Less Grumbly – A Follow-up to ‘grumblings of a slum lord in the post-bust environment’
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010This Guest post by Brian Blum, Operating Manager of Maverick Structures LLC,
is a follow up to an earlier post
Sure, we each have “teams” of lawyers, Realtors, title agencies, finance people, insurance agents, and contractors working with us, but don’t kid yourself – real estate investing is largely an individual sport. Many investors have neither receptionists [...]
Grumblings of a slum lord in the post-bust environment
Friday, September 24th, 2010Guest post by Brian Blum, Operating Manager, Maverick Structures LLC
I’m a real estate investor. I see opportunities in buildings – and in numbers, and I use those opportunities to create income and equity. What I do benefits society, but I’m not going to lie to you – I am driven to do it for my [...]
A view from the other side
Friday, September 17th, 2010Clay Sparkman
Over a year ago, well before I started pecking away at this blog, I began blogging about private money and private money issues from the investor perspective. Naturally this blog is called The Private Money Investor.
It deals with all aspects of investing in private money loans and hard money loans secured by trust deeds [...]
The big stretch
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010Clay Sparkman
In a prior posting, I pointed out that one of the primary advantages of private money is that it allows for creative problem solving due to the flexible nature of the beast. I went on to discuss some of the ways in which one can often make a private money transaction work, on any [...]
Ignoring the experts
Monday, August 2nd, 2010Clay Sparkman
One thing I can tell you about private money is that the regular rules don’t work there. And in fact, there aren’t really any rules that you can count on. At best, there are guidelines and these vary greatly depending on the broad spectrum of particulars that define a particularly loan request.
With private money, [...]
