becoming a hard money lender

[Kenneth LaVoie]

I would like to get my feet wet with lending. There is at least one investor in my local REIC that I can start with. He has a deal right now in fact, but I find myself a little scared. I know I need a good, iron clad agreement, I assume I would want to be in "first position" mortgage wise, I assume I would want the improvements part of the loan to be disbursed "as needed", etc.

Would a credit check on the borrower be a good idea?
Does anyone have a great "template" or DD checklist?
Anything else I'm missing?

for background, I'm looking to get 10-12% plus 1-2 points on conservative deals (hard money versions of "no brainers"). i.e. borrower buys a house in need of repairs that appraises at 70, he gets it for 35, puts 25 into it and sells it for 90 6 months later, that sort of thing.

thanks all!

[Marc Faulkner]

Buy the book by Lonie Scruggs, "Taking the Mystery out of Money." This should get you on track! We have it available in our Note Brokers Book Store in the bottom righ hand corner of every page on our website. Enjoy!