Beware Of The Dangers Involved In Investing In Private Hard Money In California

We all wish we had more money than we do. We may not need it now, but we would feel better knowing we will have it later when we need it. So we invest. We try to take our money and turn it into more money by investing in something we hope will be profitable.

Of course, when you invest in a project, there is a chance that the project will fail and you will lose money. This goes for any project, but some will come with more or less risk than others. Often, those with more risk come with greater rewards. While making more money can be appealing, there is more of a chance you’ll lose it all.

There is a risk-reward aspect to every investment, but for those that get involved in private hard money in California, there is a little more risk involved than just whether the project fails.

Beware The Risk Of Outside Influences

Just getting a business to succeed on its own is challenging enough, but having to deal with how outside influences can affect the success of your venture can be maddening. For example, let’s say you invest in a company that claims it is going to revolutionize the hybrid car industry. You throw everything you have into it because everyone will want a hybrid car when they become more affordable.

But then OPEC decides to release millions of barrels of oil and the cost of gasoline plummets. While it may be nice for the environment, people are more concerned with cheaper travel—and your investment is dead in the water.

With private hard money in California or anywhere else, the risk is similar but more involved. Not only do you have to deal with factors that are related to your venture, but you have to deal with those related to the equity people use to secure their loans.

Let’s say they use a few rental properties (houses) as collateral to secure a loan to be used to acquire an apartment building. But then the housing market crashes. You would think apartments would do fine since people still need a place to live, but what if its location is poor and it isn’t filling up fast enough?

Without rental income coming in, the borrower has trouble making payments. They default, and the lender takes possession, but since the loan for the apartment building was secured with a few houses. With the crash, the value of those homes has dropped significantly—and whoever invested in the loan for the apartment building is screwed.

Greater Risk Equals Greater Reward With Private Hard Money in California

Market crashes have wreaked havoc among lenders in the past and very well could in the future if all parties involved are not careful. So how can investors protect against it? Well—it’s kind of hard to. They just have to be aware of the state of the market as much as possible and pull out before the crash gets bad (if they can).

Dennis Dahlberg Broker/RI/CEO/MLO
Level 4 Funding LLC
Arizona Tel:  (623) 582-4444
Texas Tel:     (512) 516-1177
Dennis@level4funding.com
http://www.Level4Funding.com
NMLS 1057378 | AZMB 0923961 | MLO 1057378
22601 N 19th Ave Suite 112 | Phoenix | AZ | 85027
111 Congress Ave |Austin | Texas | 78701

About the author: Dennis has been working in the real estate industry in some capacity for the last 40 years. He purchased his first property when he was just 18 years old. He quickly learned about the amazing investment opportunities provided by trust deed investing and hard money loans. His desire to help others make money in real estate investing led him to specialize in alternative funding for real estate investors who may have trouble getting a traditional bank loan. Dennis is passionate about alternative funding sources and sharing his knowledge with others to help make their dreams come true.

Dennis has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. They have 2 beautiful daughters 5 amazing grandchildren. Dennis has been an Arizona resident for the past 40 years.

How To Be Successful When Borrowing Private Hard Money In California

Borrowing private hard money in California and anywhere else is supposed to be easier than getting approved for a traditional loan, but it is still possible to screw it up. The following tips will help keep you from doing so.

In a perfect world, people would not need to borrow private hard money in California. People would have excellent credit ratings and more than enough income history to get approved by traditional lenders. But the world is far from perfect. Most of us do not have good credit ratings and don’t have the kind of income history traditional lenders like to see.

So it’s a good thing private hard money lenders exist to give people another option.

Tips To Getting Approved For A Private Hard Money Loan

Private hard money in California is supposed to be easier to get approval for, but that does not mean that just about anyone that applies will get approved. It’s just as easy to screw up a private hard money loan application as it is a traditional bank loan.

The following tips will help keep your application from getting rejected:

• Don’t hide anything. One of the quickest ways to make sure your application is denied is for the lender to discover something that paints your application in a negative light from a source other than the borrower. So be up-front and tell them anything and everything they want to know-- even if it’s bad. At least if they find out from you, you only have to answer for it and not for why you tried to hide it as well.

• Don’t be pushy. A private hard money loan is going to be approved faster than a traditional loan jut by the nature of the process alone. Following up (which is a good thing) too often or in too aggressive a manner will not help your cause.

• Don’t make claims you can’t backup. The lender is going to do its due diligence. Lofty goals are nice to shoot for, but your lender is going to want to see that you can keep expectations realistic.

• Do what you say you are going to do. Lenders and investors need to believe in you. Lie, act in a dishonest manner or fail to follow through on something and your integrity will come into question.

• Don’t shop around too much. Doing so will eventually get lenders wondering if there is something wrong and if they should trust you.

• Seek out an experienced, local lender. A qualified lender is going to have a track record of success you can verify and possibly even some insight that can help you out in the long run. A local one is going to be more apt to fund you since they are invested in the community and will like seeing their money at work.

The One Rule You Must Remember

When seeking private hard money in California keep in mind one thing—there are rules, and then there aren’t rules. While there are regulations involved in hard money lending, it is also private. So while there are rules to follow, since the lender is a private entity they essentially make up their own rules. Be aware of them, be flexible, and be ready to adjust, if necessary.

Dennis Dahlberg Broker/RI/CEO/MLO
Level 4 Funding LLC
Arizona Tel:  (623) 582-4444
Texas Tel:     (512) 516-1177
Dennis@level4funding.com
http://www.Level4Funding.com
NMLS 1057378 | AZMB 0923961 | MLO 1057378
22601 N 19th Ave Suite 112 | Phoenix | AZ | 85027
111 Congress Ave |Austin | Texas | 78701

About the author: Dennis has been working in the real estate industry in some capacity for the last 40 years. He purchased his first property when he was just 18 years old. He quickly learned about the amazing investment opportunities provided by trust deed investing and hard money loans. His desire to help others make money in real estate investing led him to specialize in alternative funding for real estate investors who may have trouble getting a traditional bank loan. Dennis is passionate about alternative funding sources and sharing his knowledge with others to help make their dreams come true.

Dennis has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. They have 2 beautiful daughters 5 amazing grandchildren. Dennis has been an Arizona resident for the past 40 years.

How To Get Your Construction Loan Approved For Private Hard Money In California

When you are applying for a construction loan there are certain tips a borrower should keep in mind if they want to get approved—especially if you are trying to get private hard money in California.

If you are looking to invest in flipping houses, California is not a bad place to do it right now with a population of 39 million and growing. According to studies, California is the 17th fastest growing state in the country at .9 percent a year. Tack on the state’s natural beauty, space, and favorable climate and it is not hard to see why people want to live there—and in houses.

This, of course, means that lenders are going to be kept busy, traditional and private. With private hard money in California easier to come by and quicker for construction loans it can be helpful to know some tips that will help get your application approved faster.

Five Tips That Will Help You Get Your Construction Loan Approved

When it comes to getting your construction loan approved—whether its private hard money in California or elsewhere—you want to do whatever you can to make sure nothing holds up your loan. The following are five tips that can help you get your loan approved:

• Location: When choosing a lender, it helps to get one that is local to you or to the area where your construction project is. That way you are more likely to get someone who has a connection to the community and is emotionally invested in seeing the area improved.

• Down Payment: Private hard money lenders are going to want to know you're invested in the property as well, and since you are getting a private loan rather than a traditional one, the requirement is going to be higher. Do your homework before choosing a lender, and make sure you can meet the equity requirements the lender has before applying.

• Lot Lien: It’s a good idea to ask your lender if they want some of the lot's costs included in the loan or not. Most prefer to have the construction loan exclusive from the lot or at least subordinated to the first position private-money deed of trust. Make sure you talk to the lender before applying to find out what they prefer or are comfortable going with.

• Builder’s/Subcontractors Draw Process: be familiar with it. On some occasions, lenders like to pay builders directly once they complete a site inspection. In such cases, they will often require a title company be involved, and lien waivers acquired before they pay the builder and any subcontractors involved.

• Rate and Fees: Be familiar with what they are and what they can be. Talk to your builder before applying for a loan with anyone to make sure he or she is comfortable with it.

In Short…

What you will need to do to get approved for private hard money in California is be able to prove that you bring value to your side of the table. Lenders want to feel like they are going to get their money back and that confidence will come mostly from how much they believe in the borrower.

The more knowledgeable the borrower appears, the more confidence the lender will have in them.

Dennis Dahlberg Broker/RI/CEO/MLO
Level 4 Funding LLC
Arizona Tel:  (623) 582-4444
Texas Tel:     (512) 516-1177
Dennis@level4funding.com
http://www.Level4Funding.com
NMLS 1057378 | AZMB 0923961 | MLO 1057378
22601 N 19th Ave Suite 112 | Phoenix | AZ | 85027
111 Congress Ave |Austin | Texas | 78701

About the author: Dennis has been working in the real estate industry in some capacity for the last 40 years. He purchased his first property when he was just 18 years old. He quickly learned about the amazing investment opportunities provided by trust deed investing and hard money loans. His desire to help others make money in real estate investing led him to specialize in alternative funding for real estate investors who may have trouble getting a traditional bank loan. Dennis is passionate about alternative funding sources and sharing his knowledge with others to help make their dreams come true.

Dennis has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. They have 2 beautiful daughters 5 amazing grandchildren. Dennis has been an Arizona resident for the past 40 years.

How Do I Find A Lender That Works In Private Hard Money In California?

The bank has just turned down your application, but you don’t want to give up on the dream just yet. So you need someone who deals with private hard money in California. How do you find that someone?

You’ve been a good boy for most of your life. You are honest on your tax returns, you stop at traffic lights in the middle of nowhere even if there is no one in sight, and you keep your word. But you haven’t always paid your bills on time.

So your credit rating is not the best. This, when combined with what the bank described as “insufficient employment history” caused your loan application to be denied. But the clerk sympathizes with you and can see how much starting your business means to you, so they tell you to find a lender who works with private hard money in California. The interest rate will be a lot higher, but at least you’ll get approved.

There is just one problem.

How Do I Find Private Hard Money In California?

Finding conventional lenders is easy, but it can be a little more challenging to find a private hard money lender. It’s not that there are so few of them and it’s hard to locate one. It’s quite the opposite. There are plenty of options out there. You just have to know where to look to find one—like the internet.

Everything is online these days. Run a search for whatever you need and thousands of options are likely to pop up. Going that route can be confusing though since you’ll get options from all over the world and anything that can relate to your search word. If you want to use the internet, you’ll have better luck searching for investment forums and chatrooms. There you will find people that will be more than happy to recommend someone (or warn you to stay away).

However, you don’t want just to pick someone off the internet because you can’t ever know for sure how good they are. Reviews are faked all the time so you can’t trust them to be 100 percent accurate. Companies will pay people to write false reviews on Yelp and other places.

Probably the best way to find a private hard money in California would be to ask someone or ask multiple someones. Talk to the people that often work with lenders who approve loans for private hard money in California:

• Mortgage Brokers: They probably have a few that they prefer to work with and can recommend when asked

• House Flippers: if there is anyone that will know of a good hard money lender, it will be someone that has used one or two themselves—like a house flipper.

• Real Estate Agent: Who works with more lenders and investors than a real estate agent? Few people do (if any). Like brokers, they probably have a few that they have developed a relationship with and feel comfortable recommending.

Dennis Dahlberg Broker/RI/CEO/MLO
Level 4 Funding LLC
Arizona Tel:  (623) 582-4444
Texas Tel:      (512) 516-1177
Dennis@level4funding.com
http://www.Level4Funding.com
NMLS 1057378 | AZMB 0923961 | MLO 1057378
22601 N 19th Ave Suite 112 | Phoenix | AZ | 85027
111 Congress Ave |Austin | Texas | 78701

About the author: Dennis has been working in the real estate industry in some capacity for the last 40 years. He purchased his first property when he was just 18 years old. He quickly learned about the amazing investment opportunities provided by trust deed investing and hard money loans. His desire to help others make money in real estate investing led him to specialize in alternative funding for real estate investors who may have trouble getting a traditional bank loan. Dennis is passionate about alternative funding sources and sharing his knowledge with others to help make their dreams come true.

Dennis has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. They have 2 beautiful daughters 5 amazing grandchildren. Dennis has been an Arizona resident for the past 40 years.

How To Get Rejected By Hard Money Lenders In California

When it comes to seeking out hard money lenders in California or anywhere else, most of us are too concerned with what we think we need to do to get approved to make sure we don’t do things that will get us rejected.

It’s natural for people to want to focus on what they need to do to make forward progress. It’s what we are all after, and depending on the number of distractions in life, we may need to have laser focus to reach or goals.

However, in the process of locking in that laser focus on the end goal, it is not unusual for people to miss some of the details that hinder progress towards that goal. Do so when you turn in your loan application to hard money lenders in California or anywhere else and your application will end up being denied.

Three Things That Will Get Your Hard Money Loan Denied

As important as it is to focus on the things you need to do right to get approved, you must keep in mind those things that can get you rejected by hard money lenders in California:

• Insufficient down payment or equity: Hard money lenders can get away with charging the high-interest rates that they do because of the increased risk involved. To mitigate that risk, lenders will often require a sizable down payment or that you have sufficient equity in the property; 25 percent is a typical amount. Lenders tend to feel better when they feel you have “skin” in the game too.

• Insufficient income: Hard money lenders want to know you have some “skin” in the game before approving your loan, but they also want to feel confident you will be able to repay the loan. Just saying you’ll pay when the product you are selling explodes and every has to have a piece doesn’t count. The best way to soothe these concerns is to have sufficient income coming in already or with cash reserves.

• No exit strategy: Hard money loans are often shorter; no more than a year to five years typically. But that does not mean your payments are going to be crazy high. It just means you are going to have a balloon payment at the end—which is where many people tend to run into trouble. So when that time comes, it helps to have a strategy for handling that payment. Acceptable exit strategies include selling the property, selling a different property, refinancing with another hard money loan (or a conventional one or a subprime one).

Hard Money Lenders in California Don’t Want To Reject You

Hard money lenders don’t want to deny you. They want to loan you the money you need. It’s why they exist. But if they aren’t careful and approve too many of the wrong types of people, lenders may soon find they have no money to lend.

So do your homework—all of it. Find out why hard money lenders in California will reject you as well as what it takes to get approved. This way you can prepare for everything and ensure you will get what you need.

Dennis Dahlberg Broker/RI/CEO/MLO
Level 4 Funding LLC
Arizona Tel:  (623) 582-4444
Texas Tel:     (512) 516-1177
Dennis@level4funding.com
http://www.Level4Funding.com
NMLS 1057378 | AZMB 0923961 | MLO 1057378
22601 N 19th Ave Suite 112 | Phoenix | AZ | 85027
111 Congress Ave |Austin | Texas | 78701

About the author: Dennis has been working in the real estate industry in some capacity for the last 40 years. He purchased his first property when he was just 18 years old. He quickly learned about the amazing investment opportunities provided by trust deed investing and hard money loans. His desire to help others make money in real estate investing led him to specialize in alternative funding for real estate investors who may have trouble getting a traditional bank loan. Dennis is passionate about alternative funding sources and sharing his knowledge with others to help make their dreams come true.

Dennis has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. They have 2 beautiful daughters 5 amazing grandchildren. Dennis has been an Arizona resident for the past 40 years.

If Your Hard Money Lenders in California Are Compared to Ezuabo—That’s Not A Good Thing!

Hard money lenders California—For every success story and for every honest lender there is a story about a dishonest one. The story of Ezuabo is one of the dirty ones.

When people talk about—well, just about anything, they will compare it to something else. It’s like by comparing one thing to another thing, which people are more familiar with, we can understand how beautiful or terrible something is.

For example, how many times have you heard a tired person talk about drinking a good cup of coffee and how the “fog suddenly lifted?” Have you ever heard something that just walked into the room, joined a conversation, or been hired on described as a “breath of fresh air?” Or how about the teacher that’s as mean as the Wicked Witch of the West?

Get the idea? So—with that in mind—if any of the hard money lenders in California you are considering going with have been described as “similar to Ezubao”—run away. Run far away.

The Story Of Ezubao

At first, the story of this hard money lender in China was your typical rags to riches kind of story. It’s founder, Ding Ning, was a 34-year old high school dropout. He opened the company in numerous cities and took out some expensive ads to promote the venture. It wasn’t your typical lending company, though. No, it focused on working with individuals with poor credit histories that could not get approved for a traditional loan.

With over 1.3 billion people living in China, it is safe to say that there were thousands if not millions of people seeking out loans in China that fit perfectly into the segment of the population Ezubao wanted to target--or at least that was what Ning wanted his investors to believe.

Ning could justify the insane number of borrowers he claimed the company had because his interest rates were not higher than the banks like the typically are for hard money lenders in California, China, or anywhere else. They were lower than the banks.

So it was easy to imagine people flocking to Ezubao. If you could get your money faster and for less, why wouldn’t you go to them? Except people were not. Approximately 95 percent of the borrowers Ning claimed the company had were fake. In the process, over 900,000 investors lost $7.6 billion.

Could There Be A Hard Money Lender In California Like Ezubao?

Investors and lenders alike always have to be on the lookout for potential scams. These days they have become more and more elaborate and can be hard to pinpoint. But that is why there are as many regulations as there are for hard money lenders in California and across the country.

Could a scammer get his or her hands on the appropriate licenses to appear legitimate? That is always going to be a possibility, but if ever in doubt, refuse to take their word for it. Call the appropriate local or state agency that issued their license. If you still aren’t sure—go with someone else.

Dennis Dahlberg Broker/RI/CEO/MLO
Level 4 Funding LLC
Arizona Tel:  (623) 582-4444
Texas Tel:      (512) 516-1177
Dennis@level4funding.com
http://www.Level4Funding.com
NMLS 1057378 | AZMB 0923961 | MLO 1057378
22601 N 19th Ave Suite 112 | Phoenix | AZ | 85027
111 Congress Ave |Austin | Texas | 78701

About the author: Dennis has been working in the real estate industry in some capacity for the last 40 years. He purchased his first property when he was just 18 years old. He quickly learned about the amazing investment opportunities provided by trust deed investing and hard money loans. His desire to help others make money in real estate investing led him to specialize in alternative funding for real estate investors who may have trouble getting a traditional bank loan. Dennis is passionate about alternative funding sources and sharing his knowledge with others to help make their dreams come true.

Dennis has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. They have 2 beautiful daughters 5 amazing grandchildren. Dennis has been an Arizona resident for the past 40 years.

New Laws Helping Borrowers Avoid Common Pitfalls From Hard Money Lenders In California

Hard money lenders California—With all the options available nowadays, it can be hard to realize who is a legitimate lender, and which ones are scams. Some relatively new laws in California are geared towards protecting borrowers.

Hard money lenders California—It has happened way too much in the past. A person with too low of a credit rating wants to follow his dream and open his own business. He can’t get approved for a loan from a traditional lender, so he has to find a hard money lender to approve him.

But there are so many! Who do you trust? Who is legitimate? Is there any way a person can weed out the bad so you can just choose from the good and not have to worry about being a victim of some elaborate scam?

Yes.

How You Can Protect Yourself From Fraudulent Hard Money Lenders in California

There is no way to weed out the bad from the good completely, but there are ways in which you can bend the odds in your favor that the guys you are choosing from are not going to cheat you:

• Federal Licensing: Lenders in California have to be licensed by national and local agencies to conduct business. Licensing is one of the easiest things to check on and something you should always ask about. If they have it—great—but if they don’t or try to give you some excuse as to why they don’t, it may be time to try someone else.

• Law 6500 of Consumer Protection on balloon loans: One of the ways lenders can make hard money loans more appealing is by making the payments smaller. However, when they do, they are also making the balloon payment you will have to make at the end of the loan term that much higher. What this law does is limit balloon payments by not allowing them to mature in less than five years.

• Negative Amortization Bans: One of the negatives involved with hard money loans is the higher interest rate. After all, lenders deserve to be compensated for their risk. But what this refers to is banning interest rates that are so high that they cause undue financial hardship on the borrower (negative amortization).

• Predatory Loans: In the interest of approving a loan application faster (which is a big selling point for hard money lenders) the step involving income verification is sometimes overlooked. Either that or the lender knows the borrower can’t pay back the loan but makes it anyway so they can eventually seize the property used as collateral. Whether it is by accident or on purpose, it is considered predatory lending—which is illegal. Federal law now requires lenders verify the ability to repay a loan before approving a loan.

• Upfront payments: Some hard money lenders in California and elsewhere will require borrowers to make a pretty large payment up front to possibly cover interest and an advance installment fee. Federal law keeps a lender from making it too large (no more than two reasonably sized payments depending on the structure of the loan).

Dennis Dahlberg Broker/RI/CEO/MLO
Level 4 Funding LLC
Arizona Tel:  (623) 582-4444
Texas Tel:      (512) 516-1177
Dennis@level4funding.com
http://www.Level4Funding.com
NMLS 1057378 | AZMB 0923961 | MLO 1057378
22601 N 19th Ave Suite 112 | Phoenix | AZ | 85027
111 Congress Ave |Austin | Texas | 78701

About the author: Dennis has been working in the real estate industry in some capacity for the last 40 years. He purchased his first property when he was just 18 years old. He quickly learned about the amazing investment opportunities provided by trust deed investing and hard money loans. His desire to help others make money in real estate investing led him to specialize in alternative funding for real estate investors who may have trouble getting a traditional bank loan. Dennis is passionate about alternative funding sources and sharing his knowledge with others to help make their dreams come true.

Dennis has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. They have 2 beautiful daughters 5 amazing grandchildren. Dennis has been an Arizona resident for the past 40 years.