Clay Sparkman I first wrote and published this piece in its original form in September of 2009. I am of the firm belief that the key to success (defined as: having fun and maximizing your return, two closely correlated phenomena), is rigorous and comprehensive vetting of the loan proposal. If you do this right, the […]
Fundamentals
Information for investors
Thursday, August 22nd, 2019Clay Sparkman Here is our *Information for Investors* section. It is direct and to the point. It tells you what you can expect of us and what we will expect to you, in a broker-relationship. http://www.privatemoneysource.com/investors.php Best, Clay Sparkman, CEO – Clay (clay@privatemoneysource.com, 503-476-2909) Clay is Vice President of Fairfield Financial, a primary source for […]
Don’t put all your egg baskets in one egg truck
Thursday, August 1st, 2019Clay Sparkman Colloquialisms are funny things. We use them pretty much every day in our speech and in our writing and yet most of us, I suspect, though we know the meanings of the expressions, frequently don’t know why the individual words have come to mean what they mean. Take for example: “Don’t look a […]
Private money – whole loans vs fractional share loans
Thursday, November 29th, 2018S. Clay Sparkman This issue nearly always comes up in early conversations with new potential investors. Working with private money investors, we are able to fund loans in two different ways. (1) Single loan/single investor – This is probably most common. It is quite simple. A potential investor evaluates a loan, and if she chooses […]
Getting started with private money investing
Thursday, October 25th, 2018Clay Sparkman I am frequently asked by private money investors: “… so how do we get started investing in private money loans?” You know, there is no simple answer to this question. I tell them that it is kind of like dating. If we are going to do this as an investor/broker team, then they need […]
Five potentially useful indicators of the likely movement of value
Friday, August 11th, 2017Clay Sparkman Any good real estate investor should be attempting to assess whether property values are rising, falling, or holding in the area of his/her latest potential investment. After all, the core question when buying investment property (particularly short-term) is, “what is value likely to do in the next year or so?” If you sense […]
A book that we must read
Thursday, January 19th, 2017Clay Sparkman This book strikes me as a must read for anyone in the lending business. I have not read it yet, but I intend to get started now. Have any of you read it, and if so, what was your take away? Here The Unbanking of America: How the New Middle Class Survives Lisa […]
Resources for private money profesionals
Friday, January 6th, 2017Clay Sparkman I posted this article in 2011, and am sad to say that I haven’t come across much in the way of new resources since. I’m going to re-post, with a few small changes, and please let me know if you know of any useful resources available to private money professionals. These days–with uncertain […]
Examining an FAQ about Trust Deed investing
Tuesday, December 20th, 2016S. Clay Sparkman TNG (The Norris Group) published the following FAQ on their site. I thought it might be fun to go through this and see where I agree and perhaps disagree, and offer my annotations (in red). Frequently Asked Questions About Trust Deed Investing 1. What is a trust deed investor? A trust deed […]
10 things You should do before you start investing
Tuesday, September 27th, 2016Clay Sparkman Most of my discussions on this blog have to do with private money investing, and trends related to such. I cam across a Lifehacker article recently–one that I had saved in The Pocket to read *later* (if you know what I mean), and was reminded that before one can make sensible private money […]
