Clay 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 […]
Valuation
Five potentially useful indicators of the likely movement of value
Wednesday, August 9th, 2017How to read an appraisal
Tuesday, March 26th, 2013Clay Sparkman This article was originally published, on this blog, on 8/9/10. 2 ½ years later, I feel it is worthy to be modified slightly and published again. Whatever you do in the real estate business, I highly recommend that you give this post a good read. The most important thing that you must understand […]
Web based resources for the private money professional (re-post)
Friday, February 22nd, 2013Clay Sparkman I originally published this article in January of 2010. Two years later, I think it is as useful as ever. Thus the re-post (for those who missed it the first time around). Today I will focus on a few web based tools that I have found to be useful in the business. Let’s […]
Private Money FAQ
Monday, January 7th, 2013Clay Sparkman I try to update and publish this FAQ every once in awhile, as it is a handy guide to better understanding the market for private money loans in general–and more particularly, how we operate here at FFS, by way of example. Private money is often misunderstood. Many industry professionals know very little about […]
Everything you wanted to know about private money but were afraid to ask
Friday, January 6th, 2012Clay 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 […]
Private money and the question of value
Friday, November 18th, 2011Clay 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 […]
Kick some A in your CMA
Wednesday, May 18th, 2011Clay Sparkman One thing that Fairfield does a little differently is allow our borrowers to supply their own valuation analysis in lieu of a formal appraisal. Our acceptance of a value estimate really comes down to the comps, and we really don’t care who provides them so long as they are appropriate, we can follow […]
What you will only learn on the streets about how to read an appraisal (and hopefully without the scars to prove it)
Monday, August 9th, 2010Clay Sparkman The crucial thing that you must understand about any appraisal (or other real estate valuation instrument) is that it is only as good as its logic. So that—in other words—you must never accept an appraisal’s conclusion regarding value without looking beyond the surface to understand the logic that leads to the conclusion and […]
