To generalize broadly, most who call themselves private or hard money lenders (or any of the other euphemisms for the same thing) typically originate first-position or (rarely) second-position performing real estate loans.

After that, the lender may use a private auctioneer to auction off the property and try to recoup as much money as possible.

I've personally utilized private notes on three transactions and participated in another handful of negotiations with sellers on behalf of buyers in the past five years. 

I just sent you a private message.

Need some advice.I do some small private money lending to home flippers.

But, insurance costs are likely to rise, making getting mortgages for most people even harder to get.What is likely to happen is more creative financing going forward, private lending to increase and smaller houses being built in the future. 

So I've been thinking of joining the Air Force for 4 years, during those 4 years I would buy 3-4 unit properties which later after the 4 years I can get into Commericial real estate by doing a 1031 exchange or getting loans from private investors so that I can buy bigger multi-family properties.

Quote from @Karen Smith: With more investors turning to private money lenders for faster funding, what benefits have you seen from using private financing versus traditional bank loans? 

Sounds like you are happy with the answers but here is something else to consider: NJ is a judicial foreclosure state so timeline to foreclose is multiple months at a minimum and could even be over a year depending on the tools you have.Is your lender a big institution or a smaller private lender?

@Samuel Kim - please contact @Chris K. privately and allow him to show you how you can benefit from this wonderful strategy that he implemented for his many health professional clients.