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 […]
Investor perspective
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Monday, March 26th, 2012What's Going On Out There?
Friday, February 3rd, 2012Clay 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 […]
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 […]
Resources – show me the good stuff!
Tuesday, March 29th, 2011Clay Sparkman I have long searched for resources that might be useful to those who wish to learn more about private money and hard money loans, and in the process I have become increasingly convinced that our particular niche field is somewhat of an intellectual/informational wasteland. Every time I stumble upon an article or site […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
