The 1 Person You Need To Ask For Private...

dollar Today I’m going to let you in on a sneaky little trick I've used – and anyone can use – to quickly and easily uncover private lenders who are already active in your local arena.

The truth is, hardly anyone seems to ever think of this, but it’s certainly not rocket science. So fair warning, you may just smack yourself in the noggin with a, "Why the heck didn't I think of that?!"

As an investor, you probably already have a working relationship with a title company or closing attorney for your transactions, right? Hopefully an investor-friendly one who already handles closings for a number of other local investors.

If you aren't sure, ask around at your local REIA group meeting, and you should be able to clearly identify at least one solid company that closes multiple investor transactions for your industry colleagues all the time.

Well, Patrick Riddle here, and this is exactly where I found myself one day, when it hit me...

I was literally sitting at the closing table, signing the docs on a quick little wholesale deal when the random thought hit me that I wished I had access to a little more private money.

I had just one private lender at the time – a doctor who specialized in house calls and wanted to get in on the real estate game but didn’t have time outside his busy work schedule. I was using his pile of cash to fund my deals almost exclusively.

The problem is – and it’s an all-too-common one – he could only handle 1 or 2 deals at a time. So I found myself doing a little dance sometimes to try and balance closing dates when I had multiple deals in the hopper at any given time that needed funding.

So as the thought kind of randomly struck me that I needed more private money, I then remembered that I knew a local investor colleague who happened to have a closing of his own at the same title company a little later in the afternoon – and I found myself wondering where he gets his deal funding from.

Then I looked up at my closing attorney and…

The lightbulb just went off.

See, she already knows exactly who’s funding his deal…because she’s doing the closing. In fact, she’s got an inside scoop on who everyone is using to fund their deals – at least everyone who closes in her office (and a lot of investors do).

So I just up and asked her.

"Hey, I'm about to crank up my deals here in the near future, and to be honest I could use access to some more private funding for my deals. Can you think of anyone you've worked with who's actively lending money to local investors like me, and might like to benefit from the types of deals that I do?"

It's as simple as that. Really.

And I got an answer the very first time I asked. A name, a phone number and a warm introduction.

So of course, I then called him up and said,

"Hey, I got your name (insert name of our mutual closing attorney friend). I'm an investor in town here. I’m not sure if we've ever met, but I'm looking for some reliable funding for some of my deals coming up. Can we talk about it and see if it might be something that would fit both of us?"

Why I love this so much.

Well, first off – and this is obvious – it’s super easy to do.

It's as simple as asking your investor-friendly closing attorney who's currently loaning private money to investors in the area. I know that seems ridiculously simple, but since the light bulb went off, this tactic has been directly responsible for more than one private lender for me over the years.

Also, it makes your closing attorney look good.

money Think about it…

Whoever these private lenders are – they’re typically established local players. They’re people your closing attorney enjoys doing business with over and over again. And anything they can do to help that – any warm introductions they can facilitate that will help marry good, solid clients with other good, solid clients…

…well that just spells more business for him/her, doesn’t it?

And it’s a win/win/win that makes them look like the hero for sparking a quality business relationship where everyone gets to enjoy making more money together as a result.

And finally, it’s the low-hanging fruit approach.

These are people who are already actively lending money to other investors. You don't have to sell them on the idea of it.

You just basically have to find out who they are, reach out to them and start the conversation – after your warm introduction from your closing attorney, which puts you ahead of the game already.

They’ll likely already have an established way they like to do business – a certain set of terms for their private funding. So you don’t have to do much “educating” – you really just have to build rapport and see if you’re a good fit for each other.

Bottom line.

This little trick is so simple to deploy, but it's worked quite well for me, and you have no reason whatsoever not to give it a try for yourself.

So go take action on this.

Go get yourself some fresh private money lenders from your closing attorney or title company.

Say something.

Drop us a line - we love hearing and celebrating your successes.

Ask your closing attorney or title company for referrals of private lenders.

Reach out to those private lender referrals with confidence knowing that the warm introduction gives you a killer place from which you can start building rapport.

Continue networking – always – you never know who has private money to lend or who knows someone who does.