When we went to the National Hard Money Conference in Las Vegas, we met a guy who had over 30 years in commercial hard money lending. Based on that alone we wanted to talk with him.
But because we’re busy prepping for our Secrets of Successful Syndication seminar, we were especially anxious to get perspectives from a 30 year vet. After all, we think it’s a great time for real estate entrepreneurs to step in and help heal a decimated economy by getting capital flowing into properties and projects. But what does an industry insider think?
Before leaving Las Vegas, we set up our mobile studio. We wanted to make sure that what happened in Vegas didn’t stay there. Behind the microphones for this episode of The Real Estate Guys™ Radio Show:
- Your hard money host, Robert Helms
- Your semi-hard money co-host, Russell Gray
- Special guest, founder and CEO of Blackburne & Sons and C-Loans, George Blackburne
Just like in the grocery, hardware and car part businesses, the financial industry has suppliers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers. But the product being distributed is money.
Most people are familiar with banks, credit unions, mortgage companies and the types of retail transactions they engage in. Some people (like small business owners) are somewhat familiar with local business banks and other institutional sources of commercial capital. But most people have only a vague understanding of private capital and the term “hard money” – especially when it comes to small commercial businesses and properties. So we open the show with a quick overview of the term “hard money” and a quick discussion of how it fits into the financial food chain.
But we don’t take long to get our guest talking about his 30+ years in the business and what he sees going forward.
George Blackburne has been helping guide private money into local projects and properties three decades. Along the way, he’s seen a lot of changes. Being an entrepreneur, he saw a need in the commercial funding business which emerging technology could solve. So fourteen years ago, he founded C-Loans, an on-line directory that matches borrower and brokers with sources of funding. We thought is was such a cool idea, we’re adding it to our Resource Center.
In addition to being a money guy and an entrepreneur, George is also a lawyer licensed in two states. In other words, he’s a pretty sharp guy. So we were very gratified when he told us he thought 2011 would be “the year of the hard money lender”. It just made us all the more certain that now is the time for all good real estate entrepreneurs to come to the aid of their country and consider getting into the private capital business.
While many are frustrated waiting for corporations to create jobs and banks to start lending to small business, entrepreneurs can create a job for themselves and others while getting into the game of investing private capital.
There are tons of distressed assets available for pennies on the dollar, and deserving projects just waiting to be funded. And while banks are only interested in the “low hanging fruit”, (the “no brainers” as George calls them), there are lots of “outrageous profits” waiting for those are willing to “be the brainer”!
We think this era will be remembered not only as the “year of the hard money lender”, but as one of the greatest opportunities to build wealth with real estate that we may see in several decades. Check out this episode and see what you think!
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The Real Estate Guys™ Radio Show podcast provides education, information, training and resources to help investors make money with their real estate investments.
