Finance Roll

The economy has taken a nose dive as far as real estate is concerned. Those that do not understand that it takes being able to roll with the changes, will be rolled over. Of course, with each change comes great opportunity. Right now, the savvy investor that gears themselves towards short sales, reo's, wholesaling, and subject too type investing will be certain to reap some SERIOUS REWARDS before this real estate market turns.

The trick to making it though, is to have the cash available to make deals immediately. Forget hard money lending as that is nothing more than glorified traditional lending with a fancy name. Sure, pure hard money lending used to be where you borrowed a certain amount, no questions asked, and you repaid the money at a higher interest rate. Now, you still pay the higher interest rate, but unfortunately, you have to jump through many of the same hoops that residential lending requires AND you have to wait for a closing, etc. This means too much time and the REAL DEALS will be lost. Don't get me wrong, there are still probably a few mavericks that operate like they did in the past, it's just a matter of finding the honest ones that REALLY do exist.

There is also private money. This is similar to old fashioned hard money and can work IF you get the right person and the right scenario. Trying to get someone to come off of their retirement account or hand out money just because they have it is NOT as easy as it may seem. Again, it can happen, but how much time are you willing to put into locating the right person, explaining how everything will work, getting the proper paperwork (legally) in place and then HOPING that the person will not hound you for updates or want to be involved in every issue you have? Too much hassle for me.

What I do and now recommend and do for others is to obtain unsecured lines of business credit. Yep, you may have heard this touted as the last frontier lately, and it is great, but be careful here too. Most individuals that are set up correctly (and herein lies the tricky part) can easily obtain cash lines that are 100% THEIRS TO DO WITH WHATEVER THEY WANT. This seems to be the best way to capture the market as it now stands. Again though, I want to warn you to be careful. There are many so-called pros out there trying to line up money for people without the foggiest idea of how to do it. There is a method that takes experience and connections here...It's not about simply calling the bank and saying I have good credit and want to invest. If things are done incorrectly, you can not only be denied the line of credit, but your credit score will take a hit, your company could be blackballed by lenders for a year and in some circumstances, it could be red flagged for life.

Unsecured lines of business credit is indeed one of the best avenues to capture and control the current real estate market, just make sure you obtain competent counsel before you attempt obtaining them.