This article was published in The Scotsman Guide as “2 Private-Money Myths: Debunked” back around the time when the sub-prime market was just beginning to collapse. I thought it might be of interest to some of you on this blog, and so I’m posting a slightly different version here. — Clay Sparkman I would like […]
Structuring loans
Private Money – The Rules of Physics May Not Apply
Wednesday, December 12th, 2012A private money loan prospectus – Hood Canal, Washington
Monday, September 24th, 2012Clay Sparkman (In October of 2011, I posted this item on my Private Money Investor blog. I thought it might be useful to brokers as well—the idea being so that you may (a) see how we present loans to our internal working investors, (b) gain perspective on our entire private money loan process, from start […]
Creative Funding
Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012Clay 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 […]
Make your borrower's projects and submissions More robust
Monday, March 26th, 2012Clay 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 […]
Calculating LTVs for rehab, development, and construction loans
Friday, January 20th, 2012Clay 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 […]
Private money – getting from point A to point D
Wednesday, December 28th, 2011Clay 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 […]
Private 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. […]
Private Money Loan Simulator
Wednesday, December 14th, 2011Clay 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 the art of handcrafting loans
Thursday, October 20th, 2011Clay Sparkman As I pointed out in a previous mailing, our private money lending programs tend to be fairly rigid with regard to LTV requirements, but quite forgiving with regard to other issues. One of the nice things about private money is that it allows for creative problems solving. I have put many transactions together […]
