Raising Money for Commercial New Construction Help!!

[Dan Thomas]

Looking for some opinions....I have forwarded this to my attorney as well so I am just looking for opinions from those experienced in private money transactions, I know that I should consult an attorney.

I own land that I am trying to build out a brewery on in NH.  I have struggled over the past year getting financing for this project.  I have worked with at least a dozen banks over the last year.  I hear the same story about how the general economy, my length of time owning the business, etc are reasons credit unions (same ones who were on board before I bought the brewery) are now not willing to finance.  They all mention that my business plan seems rock solid and they buy into my numbers.  The banks are just very conservative in this environment.

I met a gentlemen who came into my brewery (current location that I lease) and we got to talking about the general market and our plans to scale.  He mentioned he has a large network of private lenders and would be willing to help me out.  I sent him my business plan and he said his investors were interested.  He sent me a contract which if I sign will pay him a fee of 3% of the money secured.  The construction cost for the brewery / restaurant is ~2.4M.  He also wants $1500 up front and $750 a month until the financing is secured.  His estimate is 2-4 Months.

The red flags from me are:

1. He is not a lender, his contract is for "business advising"

2.  He didn't exhibit any of the concerns the credit unions / banks did.  Almost seems too good to be true to me.

3.  He mentioned that he would get a combination of SBA funding and private money.  I haven't been able to secure the SBA funding on my own so I questions his ability to do so.

My question is whether or not this is normal.  Outside of a few residential hard money loans I have never really used private money.  $81k seems like a very expensive fee....but I have not been able to get the financing and if he can get it done I question if it is necessary / normal?

Any input is appreciated.