When do you become a Private Lender

[Brandon Elliott]

My question to you... when does it make sense to become a private lender?

I have a client dying to get into RE but has no funds other than his HELOC with about $100K available rn. The interest on barrowed money is somewhere around 10% and I thought he may be able to use that to lend on deals and begin to build up a fund to invest himself.

When he asked if I'd do that I said, "No, I'm not at the stage in my career to lend money. I'm still building my portfolio." 

That got me thinking though... there's got to be people out there lending on deals even if they don't have a big portfolio(s).... So I am curious, when did you become a private lender and why? (Or how did it make sense for you?)