All Forum Posts by: Jason Topolski

@Jay Hinrichs , @Lenny Longo , @Account Closed , @Paul Timmins :

Thank your very much for your sound advice. I will research nearby HMLs as my next step.

Regards,

Jason.

@Account Closed

Thanks for your reply.

My background: Currently working full time in the technology industry, making decent money but at the ever-increasing cost of time and quality of life. My short and long term goal is to progressively reduce the time I spend at work and supplement my income from investments. I researched a few strategies and found that private lending appears to be the closest match for my goals and requirements.

I am leaning towards private lending since the rate of return appears decent, my involvement in the rehab project is low from a time perspective, the risk can be fairly easily categorized and hopefully mitigated if working with established rehabber, and well, because I have some money to invest.

As for the rate of return, my plan was to go along the lines of what you mentioned earlier and what others recommended - I am willing to start with lower rate to link with a seasoned rehabber - which should mitigate risk of incorrect property/rehab cost evaluation and fraud. These, from my research appear to be the 2 biggest risks for private lenders. In the process, I'm hoping to learn how a rehabber evaluates such projects so I can be smarter about future deals.

To minimize risk further, I would definitely prefer a project in driving distance, but I'm willing to consider away projects if the person working with me has the right credentials. 6-12 month lending.

If you think I'm making incorrect assumptions here, please feel free to jump in and warn.

Better now than later... :)

Thanks again. Jason.

Thanks all for your advice. @Jay Hinrichs - if I go with a HML, whose name appears on the Deed of Trust - the HML or mine? In another words - am I just adding to their pool of money and they lend it out or do they act as a middleman between the private lender and the borrower? If it's the latter, and if the HML had a good deal - wouldn't they lend the borrower themselves?

Jason.

As a beginner private lender I would like to minimize the risk of borrower defaulting on their investment by learning from an experienced rehabber who's skilled at evaluating numbers for property purchase, rehab and sale.

I've noticed some of the more senior forum members are very willing to offer advice/mentoring. Should I target other, more senior private lenders for advice, or look for an experienced rehabber as my mentor?

Jason.

@Bryan L. , @John Moore - thank you for your advice - this is a great start. Sounds like there are is plenty of demand for private lending - and key is to evaluate deals carefully to minimize risk.

Jason.

@Brandon Turner , @J. Martin :

Thanks to all for warm welcome and immediate advice. I am on to check out the Podcasts, get my keywords setup and visit the NYC meetup.

@David Beard :

I investigated renting initially and came to the conclusion you mentioned - NYC just doesn't seem like a good market for renting unless your initial investment is huge.

Critical for me is a proper understanding or risk involved Private Lending and ways to minimize it. I'm assuming the worst case scenario is if the Investor whom I would lend to defaults or plain runs away. My understanding is that in such case I would most likely need to foreclose on the property. To minimize this risk, a number of posters here seem to recommend to lend only 65-75% of the money so that in case of the foreclosure I can price cheaper to sell quick. Does that make sense? How long does an average foreclose take?

Jason.

PS: Sorry for double posting, I don't think the tags worked the first time.

My name is Jason, I live in Brooklyn/Tri-State area and wanted to introduce myself to BP forum members.

I'm a professional working in New York City, in the technology area. While the job pays well and is stable, it is extremely taxing in terms of time and stress. As such, it has taken a considerable toll on the quality of my life outside of work.

While doing some research, I came across this site and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of information that is being provided (for example the Ultimate beginner's guide to RE Investing) and the willingness of participants to provide advice to others.

In order to alleviate amount of time that my work consumes, I wanted to investigate going into Private Lending to slowly supplement my income. My plan is to progressively replace my wage income with interest income from Private Lending which would allow me to work part time rather than full time.

Being new to Real Estate, I have a lot of questions regarding the benefits and risks involved in this investment strategy. Do you think Private Lending is a viable investment strategy worth pursuing? I am not looking to charge crazy interest, but rather to partner with someone who's strategy is house flipping and who needs capital and enable them achieve their goals while at the same time working towards mine.

Appreciate any advice/comments.

Jason.