Clay Sparkman
Now that the Sub-Prime market for mortgages on home purchases and refinances is a thing of the past, we’re back to the situation in the ‘80’s when, if you couldn’t qualify for a black and white conventional mortgage, your only alternative was hard money. Quite frankly, now that I’ve been in this business awhile, [...]
Clay Sparkman
As you all know, sometimes we have to be creative to get loans done in this market. One of the most critical aspects of any loan is the Loan to Value ratio, and there are often options for reducing the LTV to make the deal more attractive.
For purchases, the seller carry back is a [...]
Clay Sparkman
As I’m sure most of you will agree, it takes more contacts to get a loan done these days. Lenders are more selective and an increased number of borrowers are turning to hard money. More borrowers are talking to brokers, and then brokers have to talk to more lenders to find funding. The end [...]
I am pleased to announce that we now have a new source of funds nationwide, and for larger loans than what we have typically been able to do. The basic parameters are as follows:
ELIGIBLE LOCATIONS
Anywhere in the United States
ELIGIBLE PROPERTIES
Income producing commercial real estate properties including multifamily, but no construction
TRANSACTION SIZE
$2 million to $15 million
Max [...]
Clay Sparkman
In the current climate, it’s getting harder than ever to impress potential lenders with your client’s loan scenarios. It may be that times have changed permanently and that it will be years before lenders return to their pre-2007 comfort level. Until then I thought I would make some suggestions to help you to re-think [...]
Clay Sparkman
I’d like to take this opportunity to highlight a loan that we were able to get into escrow 1 week from the time the borrower submitted his scenario. This is not something we can do every time, but very possible for a proven borrower that knows the dance. I’ll refer to this borrower as [...]
Clay Sparkman
We’ve been getting a lot of requests for pre-approval letters lately. Many of our loan requests are for rehab loans, and it can be difficult to submit offers without an approval or proof of funds letter. Unfortunately most of our clients don’t have an extra 200K sitting around for the proof of funds, and [...]
Clay Sparkman
Generally speaking we are quite willing to consider small loans. We realize that we will never get rich doing small loans, but we also remember what got us where we are. The large loans can be quite fickle, coming and going as they please, but the small loans seem to be there when we [...]
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, [...]
Clay Sparkman
We thought a quick primer on LTV calculation for projects involving construction would be of use to most of those who utilize or broker private money.
You really need to use two LTVs. We use a Front End LTV (F-LTV) as well as an After Repair Value (ARV) or Final LTV (LTV), when evaluating loans. [...]
Clay Sparkman
In my 18 years of working with loan brokers on private money transactions, one of the most significant difficulties I have encountered has been simply making our process understood—in other words, explaining the sort of information, the timelines, and the expectations that are suitable and necessary to a private money transaction. It seems [...]
Clay Sparkman
Private money is often misunderstood. Many industry professionals know very little about it, and fallacies and misconceptions tend to dominate the collective wisdom. As you know, as a subscriber to this list, I have made it my mission to try to educate professionals regarding the realities of private money. In this capacity, I spend [...]
Clay Sparkman
In the spirit of learning by example, I’d like to take the opportunity to describe an interesting scenario that we put together.
They say that when it rains, it pours. Well, for our borrower it had been pouring for a long time. A long run of bad luck had left him in a difficult situation, [...]
Clay 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 [...]
Clay Sparkman
I firmly believe that the best way to learn about anything complex is by doing. The second best way is by example. If I could provide you with a private money loan simulator I would, but I haven’t figured out how to do that yet (though I assure you, we haven’t given up on [...]
Clay Sparkman
One of the challenges for individuals and professionals pursuing a private money option is figuring out what information to provide for a specific loan request (and in what format). Because the questions and issues are quite different for private money, and certainly different within the private money context depending on the type [...]
Clay Sparkman
When it comes to private money, the rules–as you may know them–generally don’t apply. Certainly, with regard to the matter of valuing a property, most of you would do well to throw away what you’ve already learned and start over. To help you along these lines, I would like to share an article written [...]
Clay Sparkman
These days–with uncertain markets—tools and resources which provide us with information and data are more crucial than quite possibly ever before.
I am always trying to find more resources that will be of use to both me and readers of this blog. Here are a few items that have popped up [...]
Clay Sparkman
Do you believe that there is really no such thing as a free lunch? We at Fairfield feel that we have something that comes pretty close. Just for being in the right place at the right time, mortgage professionals can earn a pretty handsome little fee. Think about referring loans to us, when appropriate, [...]
Clay Sparkman
This has been a tough four years for many of us, so in celebration of the anniversary of the sub-prime collapse, I thought it would be nice to start off by having a little fun. With that in mind, I have prepared a top ten list, Top Ten Ways you Know it Might be [...]
