With that, we became the American Association of Private Lenders—and we began spreading the word.Finally, Some DefinitionsUnderpinning the concept of minimizing the use of “hard money” in our industry is a recurring theme of standardization—that the root of the issue is too many interpretations of what the same terms mean.We offer up the following definitions for discussion, debate, fine-tuning, and eventual consensus [last updated 5/9/2022]:Private lender: Any non-depository individual or entity that primarily originates business-purpose loans secured by hard assets, generally real estate.Hard money lender: A subset of private lender where creditworthiness is determined solely by the securing real estate collateral.Correspondent lender: A subset of private lender where the closed loan is sold to investors.Portfolio lender: A subset of private lender where the closed loan remains in the lender’s portfolio.Fund manager: A subset of private lender where, depending on the fund structure, the deployed capital is sourced by offering exempted securities to accredited and occasionally non-accredited private investors.Private investor: An individual or entity that seeks a return by deploying capital through a private lender or fund; the investor may or may not be named on the loan’s promissory note.Private money broker: Any individual or entity that acts as an intermediary between a borrower and a private lender without directly originating the loan.

I still get calls on all of the properties occasionally. 

I think of retirees, people down on their luck, and the occasional bad person.

Here nearly every auction is on a Tuesday, 1st Tuesday of the month, so they will get paid on Friday/Monday...and occasionally 5 mins before the sale.You are correct $500,000 properties rarely get sold for $10,000.   

I would during the course of the next inspection take a gander for any overt signs of more than an on occasional tenant and if I saw enough (More than some clothes and a toothbrush) I would simply inquire as to if she has added a tenant and inform her of what is required if that person takes up residency.

And I do get the occasional organic lead, which is a major achievement in this market.  

And then there their special "connections" access (remember James Garner's Rockford character would occasionally call his cop buddy 'Dennis' for info favors).I've used two or three PI's with some success over the years.

Don't be surprise when people occasionally offer to gift you a house, typically just about the time you are about to give up.

Your profile says you occasionally flip houses when time permits.

I occasionally get asked if I'm a Realtor/Agent & I'm always open about it, so these people that complain to my broker without calling me first irk me, especially when it's another agent/broker.