Clay Sparkman I realized early on that one of my greatest challenges in the private money lending business was to educate brokers, borrowers, and ultimately lenders regarding private money lending–what it is and when and how and when it should be used. So many people know so little about it, and those who think they […]
Private money lending – general
Trust deed lending – ten mistakes you should never make and ten mistakes you must never make
Saturday, December 19th, 2009Clay Sparkman Okay, first the ten mistakes you should never make: (1) Never close a loan without title insurance. (2) Never close a loan on property that has valuable structures without a valid hazard insurance policy in effect listing you or your entity as loss payee. (3) Never close a loan leaving property taxes unpaid […]
Private money through the looking glass
Sunday, November 22nd, 2009Clay Sparkman First off, I’d like to point you to a list of 37 private money investment tips posted by Brad Evans of Brad Evans Real Estate Loans. This list has been circulating on the net for quite a few years now. It is one of the more thoughtful comprehensive items that I have come […]
The private money lending business: likes and gripes (part III)
Monday, October 19th, 2009Clay 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 may guide investors in making the decision whether to foreclose a given […]
The private money lending business: likes and gripes (part II)
Saturday, October 3rd, 2009Clay 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 […]
The private money lending business: likes and gripes (part I)
Thursday, September 24th, 2009Clay Sparkman I thought it would be kind of fun, and hopefully informative, to write a piece about my likes and gripes regarding the business of private money lending. In other words, these are the things that tend to kick start my emotions and get me going. There is a bit of free association going […]
Twenty-five questions you must ask
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009Clay Sparkman I’m going to make a list today of twenty-five important questions that I believe an investor must ask prior to funding any private money loan transaction. I’m not going to elaborate much on each particular item here, but will drill down on each of the individual items in future posts. For the sake […]
Resources – where is all the good stuff?
Sunday, August 30th, 2009Clay Sparkman As I continue my search for resources that might be useful to those who invest in real estate secured loans, I become increasingly convinced that our particular niche field is somewhat of an intellectual/informational wasteland. Every time I stumble upon an article or site that looks like it might be of interest, it […]
