First time lender meeting

[Travis Duehr]

Hi all,

I am just starting my adventure into the real estate world, and as I search for lenders for a multifamily property I stumbled across a fortunate opportunity. A coworker of mine gave me the opportunity to meet with 2 vice presidents of a commercial division in a large bank to help educate me on lending options I will have available to me as my career progresses, and assist in getting me started. I am currently a college student.. leaving me with very little capital to leap into too large of a deal immediately. I am interested in starting with smaller (1-4) multis and transitioning to larger as things mature.

My question is how could I be most productive with this meeting? I have done a fair bit of research over the past couple of years, but also what to be respectful of their time as to preserve other opportunities. Any recommendations on how a small wannabe investor can make the most of this? Would greatly appreciate any input!

[Chris Mason]

Step one, don't be impressed by anyone's title that does mortgages. Title inflation is fairly rampant. Back when I was a mortgage banker and switched to a new bank, the business cards they gave me said "area manager" on it. I asked how that came to pass, I was an LO as far as I was concerned, zero interest in 'managing' anyone or anything but my own stuff & my assistant. They pointed to a tree near my desk (it had branches on it...) and told me an area manager manages multiple "branches"... my ACTUAL branch manager had a title that was even more ridiculous.