All Forum Posts by: Athol Dickson

I'm an ex-architect. Allowed my license to expire about 15 years ago because I wasn't practicing anymore and didn't want to spend time on the required continuing education. I've never regretted it. Real estate investing pays much better and it's a lot more fun.

@Jay Raught, thanks for the heads-up on the limit of how many notes I can own from out of state in Georgia. I had not come across that requirement yet (although I would have looked into it eventually).

@Christopher Winkler, thanks for the lead on Peak Loan Servicing. I went to their site, and see they offer disposition services as well as NPN workouts. Exactly what I was looking for when I started the thread.

@Darren Eady thanks for your offer to explain. If you re-read my question you'll see I actually didn't mention non-performing notes. But I can see from the nature of the question how you might have gotten that impression. My preference would be to buy performing notes serviced by FCI and to never have to foreclose. I'm just looking for Texas and Georgia post-foreclosure management referrals in order to be ready in a worst case scenario.

@Phil Earley it's good to know your company is there in Alpharetta. I've visited your website and will keep you in mind if I end up taking possession of a property in north Atlanta.

Good thought, Sam. Thanks.

I'm thinking of getting into buying notes, but I want to do it for retirement income so it needs to be as passive as possible. I will use FCI to service the loans and manage defaults and foreclosures, but can anyone suggest trustworthy companies that specialize in managing properties AFTER foreclosure? What I need is someone to inspect the property and report on its condition, secure the property, maintain the property, and oversee any work required to get it into saleable or rentable condition. Of course I've found several companies through Google searches, but two problems: 1) most of them seem to be focused on bank REO's and are probably not set up to handle smaller accounts like me, and 2) it would be easy for them to take me to the cleaners since the whole idea is for me to be as hands-off as possible. So I'd really appreciate suggestions from some of you who have personally worked with companies that are fair and ethical. My primary markets are the major metropolitan areas in Texas and Georgia. Thanks!

P.S. I realize I misspelled "management" in the subject line. The software doesn't seem to allow me to edit that. :-)

@Ivory Hayes Google "B2R Finance" and check out their "Portfolio Pro" program. Or if you need less than $300k check out their "Dwell Finance" division, which has a program that lends as little as $60k. Good luck!

Wow, y'all sure do know how to make a guy feel welcome.

@Steve G. thank you very much for the tip about the auto-links. I was wondering what the "@" thing was in several posts. I thought it might be a Twitter thing, but I don't do Twitter because I'm afraid that could make me a twit. :-) It should come in handy here, though. 

Thanks for the tip on the colleague requests, Moicelle. I just accepted yours. There's a lot to learn about the BP site, that's for sure.

Leonard, I'll send you a colleague request in a few (if I can figure out how) so we can get in touch when the time comes.

Those are great questions, Matthew. I'll be focusing on 1-4 unit detached residential fix and flip or buy and hold deals. No double closes or assignments (for reasons which are hopefully obvious). I'll be experimenting with the average loan size at first, until I can get a handle on how much effort each loan requires to originate. Then I'll decide what minimum principal and minimum points will make the effort worthwhile. I'll probably limit the maximum to about $200k in order to keep the portfolio diversified. The plan is to sell enough of the notes to maintain liquidity, and hold the rest. I doubt if I'll look for leverage. Hard money lending is risky enough without taking it to that level.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Jeff, I have indeed been researching the legal situation in the markets where I want to lend (Texas and Florida), and I plan to use a local real estate attorney and title company in both states to draw up the documents and provide guidance. Mocellie and Jimmy, given the slow pace of lawyers, I'm probably at least a couple of months away from being set up to lend money, but if you'd like me to get in touch when the time comes I'd be happy to do that. Just not sure how to send a direct message on BiggerPockets yet (or if that's even possible or allowed). 

Hi everybody. I'm a full time investor. Real estate is a key part of my portfolio. Currently I have private equity positions in multi-family properties located in Austin and Carrollton, Texas. I also own a portfolio of SFR rental properties in Jacksonville, FL. Recently I've been looking into offering hard money loans to fix and flip investors in northeast Florida and north Texas (I live in both places). Never loaned hard money before, but given my financial and real estate investment experience, it seems like something I could do well. We'll see how it goes...