Note Newbie Questions/Frustrations

[Jeff James]

I am an investor who is looking to buy my first note.  I am new.  I don't pretend to know all of the answers.  I am still in the "I don't know what I don't know" phase in many ways.

Because I have no experience and I don't have a hedge fund budget, I understand that I am not going to have note holders come running to me.  By the time the notes make it down to a level that they are available to me all of the obvious prime investment opportunities are going to be gone.  I get that.

I have been going to several of the usual websites where notes are available.  Even with my low expectations I have been disappointed with what I have found.  For example I have found more than one site with multiple notes that predate the most recent transfer of the property--the borrower and the property owner do not match and in some cases the borrower has not owned the property for a couple of years.  Is it possible that the new owner has acquired the property subject to the existing note?  I have never participated in that type of deal so I don't know how to recognize when that is the case--I just make it a policy to pass on those notes.  I have found some sites provide considerable due diligence type information and others treat it like a national security secret.  Sometimes the due diligence information provided is worthless because it is two years old by the time I get it or it is so full of errors that you cannot trust anything that is included.  I found that the information was inaccurate when doing my own due diligence.  I understand that the ultimate go/no go decision is mine alone so I perform checks on the info provided.

Believe it or not, I did not make this post to whine.  I hope that it doesn't come across that way.  If it does, it was not my intent and I apologize.  I don't expect anything to be handed to me.  I realize that I have to work for my results--good and bad.  My main purpose for this post was to discover whether what I am finding is typical and I need to reassess notes as an investment strategy or if my experience is merely the result of where I have been looking and with proper guidance I could find that notes are a good investment vehicle.  I can live with either scenario.

Thanks in advance for your time and consideration.