How to Protect Myself when acting as a Private Lender

[Chris Laino]

I am looking to potentially invest money with a developer, and I wanted to know how private lenders/hard money lenders protect their investment as much as possible? By "protect" I mean, not just give money to someone who is just going to run away and you'll never see/hear from again, or the deal "failing" and you not getting ANY money at all back.

Can I as a private lender protect myself the same way a hard money lender could? Also, what happens if there are a mix of multiple private lenders and hard money lenders investing in the same deal, does this affect how I can/should protect myself?

Thank you for your help!!!