I held my 1st Where To Get The Money Boot Camp in 2004. I realized missing from the current real estate trainers training was the information on being safe when finding private lenders. There was no one covering the SEC requirements when it came to finding private lenders. So I had to make the decision if I wanted to tackle this very big and expensive need for our business.
I realized there was only one right choice and that was to aggressively provide this education for creative real estate investors in the United States and in Canada. No one, and I mean no one was teaching this part of the business. Frankly I saw this as being not just a missing link in the education process; I found it unethical not to teach it. I see it as mandatory to make sure that each real estate investor is given all the facts and not just part of the picture when they are being trained to find private lenders.
So I made a decision to hire an attorney to get the research done for me. With this step, the additional benefit I brought to this business was to be the 1st to teach the SEC requirements to keep folks safe. This past year my attorney was licensed before the Supreme Court of the United States and here is a picture of him on that day. What a great honor.
Now after a few years this attorney is a key part of my team and since I love to feature my team members on my blog, here is a little background on my attorney.
You see the Securities and Exchange Commission laws and regulations can seem mind-boggling. It often takes a specialist to make sense of them. One individual who has figured them out to the point where he can explain them well to other people is Ralph Sherman, who works for Colby Properties as an SEC attorney.
Ralph teaches my students how to borrow money from private lenders in compliance with state and federal SEC laws and regulations. It’s an occupation he’s proud of. He accomplishes his formidable task by conducting research, providing written materials, and speaking at educational boot camps. He is known for his attention to detail and his communication skills.
Ralph has worked at the company for years. He was born in 1960 in Rhode Island and grew up near Boston. He attended college in Pittsburgh, then went to law school in Boston.
His experience is vast, covering the U.S., Russia, Cyprus, and Asia. He’s developed a specialty in helping entrepreneurs and small business owners deal with SEC and corporate matters. That can be no small task, but he is up to the challenge.
Ralph enjoys working with the company team to help students get their businesses started and growing. It’s the type of challenge he relishes. He enjoys sharing relevant information with business executives who are committed to doing the right thing. He’s found that, despite news reports that often profile the unscrupulous in the business world, most business executives are honest, hard-working people who want to do what is ethically right.
On a personal note, Ralph married his wife Rose. They have two adopted Chihuahuas that they enjoy spending time with. For fun, he and his wife enjoy fixing up their new home. They also like to spend time with extended family and vacation with them often.
Ralph’s Jewish faith is important to him. He is also devoted to reading Presidential and military biographies, studying the Civil War, and traveling to historic sites. Ralph is a fan of bird-watching as well as sports-watching. He is a diehard Red Sox and Patriots fan.
Ralph is the kind of well-rounded individual who is really making a difference in the lives of entrepreneurs and small business owners. He uses his vast experience to help others explore the labyrinth of laws that govern corporations. Dedicated and determined, Ralph has made his mark on the local business community. His international experience has also given him a breadth of knowledge that few others possess.
Ralph has been to everyone of my Where To Get The Money Boot Camps since 2005.
For those of you that have met or worked with Ralph, please feel free to leave a comment.
What types of information and documentation you need to have ready when you are using private money lenders to fund your real estate deals Read the rest of this entry »
Alan Cowgill speaking on FSBO Ohio and what paperwork needs to be given your private lender after the deal is done. Some of the items include a copy of the hazard insurance policy and a copy of the recorded mortgage Read the rest of this entry »
Alan Cowgill discussing Chicago hard money lenders and the two types of real estate investors and how each type should go about finding private lenders Read the rest of this entry »
I found out pretty early on in the business that doing the work on the properties wasn’t going to work. I wasn’t made to be out there doing plumbing, electrical and dry wall work and was busy with my full-time job and the real estate market.
In the beginning, I bought a lot of the tools and tried to do a lot of the construction work myself. I can remember sweat running down into my eyes and on my glasses one day when I was laying on the floor underneath the sink in the bathroom trying to tighten up a leaky pipe. I just became so frustrated and realized that I needed to start hiring out that kind of work. And, I needed to do it fast. Now, I hire out all that work and have learned that I like to do some carpentry. I like to be around when all the rehab work is going on. I’m the guy running to get the materials and keep people working.
Now, the people I hired back then to help out were at the very bottom of the pole as far as contractors. These are the guys with the rusty old trucks without a company name, doing business working alone or one other guy with them. They were cheap and so was their work, which was a problem. And, I had problems with them showing up. I’d give them money to buy materials and they wouldn’t show up. Sometimes I would only give them half of the money, but that still didn’t matter. They’d go buy the material, drop it off and then leave without finishing the job. Some of them were lazy. Some of them were thieves. Some of them would say they were good at everything. I eventually figured out that was a bad indicator, because I learned that I wanted people who were more skilled in certain areas.
I learned along the way that I needed to work with the folks who had a higher skill level without hiring right out of the yellow pages – that was too expensive. I didn’t learn this early on, but figured it out after a few years in the business. So I would hire a middle-ranged licensed electrician, a licensed plumber and I would have a general contractor to do demolition work, tear out old carpet and cabinetry and to do the dry wall and put in new cabinetry. I would hire a roofer and another person to do landscaping. And someone else still would clean the property.
I learned though, that hiring someone to do the work for me – even professionals – wasn’t without complications. The woman I hired to do cleaning was the woman that cleaned my own apartment and her husband is probably one of the best carpenters I’ve ever had. They worked as a team together. In the beginning, the three of us became friends. We had a good camaraderie and then something weird happened. When I got my personal residence – a big beautiful home and nicer than the one they were living in – they weren’t interested in being friends any more. I don’t know if it was jealousy or what happened but it was too bad. I valued their friendship, really like the guy and he was a heck of a carpenter.
So, that’s a little bit of what I experienced dealing with renovations in the first few years.
Most people don’t realize it, but obtaining money for real estate deals has nothing to do with saving money for a down payment, going to a bank, filling out an application, and waiting to be approved.
In fact, if you’re going about things this way, as I did for many years, you’re wasting time and losing money. For me, discovering how to use private lenders in my real estate business has been truly life altering. The amount of money I make and the kind of work I do each day is incredible to me. And not only is it possible, it’s really very simple. If I can do it, anyone can.
For seventeen years I languished in a full-time corporate position. I wasn’t happy and I was barely making ends meet. I was thousands of dollars in debt and it was only getting worse. It wasn’t the life I wanted. I felt that my life was just ticking away. When I sat down and really faced things, I knew in the end I could actually retire poor. Something had to be done.
Real estate investing came to me in the form of an infomercial at 2 a.m. on a Tuesday. The course piqued my interest, but the cost was $159. Money was so tight, I didn’t have $159, but I did have a credit card and the company offered a 30-day money back guarantee. I held that credit card in my hand and considered the future I wanted. Then I picked up the phone and ordered the course. It was the first step toward a brand new life and eventual wealth beyond what I could have imagined.
But that was only the beginning. After a few years I took a second step that propelled my business and my life to a whole new level. In 2001, when I quit my corporate job and took the plunge full-time into the world of real estate, I was immediately faced with a very big problem. It turns out that this problem was the best thing that could have happened to me. You see, without full-time employment, traditional lenders weren’t exactly eager to loan me funds. And without consistently available money to fuel my real estate transactions, I had no business at all. I tried everything:
- Banks - Line of credit - Hard money lenders - Partners - Credit cards
If only I had known that all of these methods, even if they had been eager to give me a loan, were complete wastes of my time!
Finally, about five years ago I learned a lesson I’ll never forget. I came across a foreclosure on a $150,000 property that was going for only $70,000. I’d hit the jackpot! It was almost too good to be true. Of course I jumped at the chance to get in on this incredible deal. But I didn’t have the available funds. It’s every real estate dealer’s nightmare. I scrambled to the bank, to my partner. I tried to extend lines of credit. But all of this took time, and time is exactly what you don’t have with a lucrative short sale like this.
As you can guess, I didn’t get the sale. By the time I had secured funds, the property was sold to someone who had the cash ready and could close within days. In this one deal I lost a potential $60,000.
I swore then and there that this would never happen to me again. And it never did, because then I discovered private lending.
A whole new world opened to me and my investing has never been the same. Private lenders literally provide you with your own private bank to fund your real estate deals. Imagine: limitless funds that are constantly and immediately available. Today, I have more available capital than I do property in which to invest it. It’s simply a store of money waiting for me to make use of it. And anyone can have this; that’s what’s so amazing. It’s like a dream come true for any serious investor.
It sounds a little overwhelming, doesn’t it? Let’s slow down. I’ll explain the specifics of private lending, and you’ll see for yourself how this incredible system works.
Who are private lenders? First of all, private lenders are everyday people. Some are retired, some work, some have substantial investment capital, and others have only a little. They may want to make the most of the savings they’ve spent their lives building, or perhaps they suddenly came into money through an inheritance or property sale.
Regardless of their background, all private lenders are looking for a safe, high-yield opportunity for their funds. I give my lenders a 6 to 8% return on their investment. There’s nothing like it anywhere. The incredible thing is that most people don’t know about this opportunity. They let their hard-earned money sit in CD’s or IRA’s. Some even risk the volatile stock market. The win-win reality of private lending is unparalleled. Really, you get immediate, limitless funds to invest in real estate opportunities at a moment’s notice.
Your lenders get an incredible 7% simple interest on their money. They are secured by both a mortgage and hazard insurance on the home. There is safety in their investment because the total investment is never more than 70% of the appraised value of the property. If for some reason you would fail to repay the loan, they have the value of the property to reclaim their funds.
My brother, who is a doctor, had a patient that claimed to be very, very, very interested in what I do as a Real Estate Investor. The guy was not successful financially and said he wanted to change his life. That’s when my brother asked me if I could spend some time with him and teach him what I know.
Well, as a favor to my brother, I devoted a whole day to this person. I drove him around to all my local properties and talked to him about the rehabs and about buying properties. I even bought him lunch. It ate up a day of my time and I really didn’t have that time to give away. After all, as the old saying goes, time is money. I really needed to be spending my time running and growing my business, but out of respect and love for my brother, I spent a whole day with this guy. I also spent time on the telephone with him and he came back one more time and we spent a couple of hours together. I bought lunch again.
Even though I gave him tons of useful money-making information, he never did anything with it. I gave him an education, an education that I spent thousands of dollars on. I gave him great information and I gave it to him on a silver platter but the time spent was wasted on him because he failed to take action.
Today he is still dead BROKE!
As you get into the business and begin to hone your skills as you spend a considerable amount of time and money on your education through boot camps, and home study systems. Along the way to building your business, you’re going to realize that there are a lot of people who are wannabes, who are not willing to work as hard as you do. A lot of people will be curious about what you’re doing. They will all wish and dream that they can do what you’re doing. A few of them are going to ask you to help them. The truth is that only a handful of these folks are going to be very successful.
It is the other people that I must caution you about. I have had people come to me with an interest in Real Estate and I have spent a lot of time with them. I learned that there are some folks who will eat up your time but they never do anything. It is fear-based. They are too afraid to take that first step.
So how do you tell between the people who are motivated and the people who are not? I don’t know how you tell the difference between people who will help themselves and people who will not but I do have some strong recommendations. In retrospect, the ways to avoid what happened to me, happening to you is ….
A. Charge them! That’s right charge them a consulting fee. They will value the information more if they have to cough up their hard earned cash. Whether they do anything with the information or not, at least you will have been fairly compensated for your knowledge and time.
B. Refuse! Nicely, but just say no. Might sound harsh but look at this realistically.
1. You paid for your education, why give your hard earned knowledge away. You have sacrificed your time and money to be where you are, why should you now just give it away.
2. The other thing that you may be doing is creating your own competitors in the market you’re trying to make money in. If you teach someone who really wants to be in the business how to be successful, they could end up growing an enormous business and become a force to be reckoned with.
That means that you will have groomed and educated your competitors. You spent money on your education; they should too. These people will take the knowledge you paid for and they will take it for free. And ultimately, they will be able to use it against you as a competitor in the same business.
I am just pointing out that you need to be cautious about who you spend your time with. You’ll want to help other folks make money too, but you will find they will eat up all of your money-making time. This has happened to me half a dozen times.
Looking back, I realize that helping these people so intimately was not a practical use of my time. I don’t do that anymore.
Before you agree to help someone out, it could be something you’ll want to avoid in the future.
My name is Nathan Elliott Rhodes. I am a 21 year old man who has a story and half to tell about my life. Well I will take you back to the complete beginning; I was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia at 5:36am on March 12th of 1989. I believe my baby picture says I weighed in at 12 pounds, 6 oz. My mom, though I love her, made a lot of mistakes while raising me. My parents split up when I was born and my dad has not been in my life since then.
When I was 6 months old, we ended in Raleigh, North Carolina during hurricane Hugo. I got really sick and ran a 108 degree fever for 12 hours. Because of the hurricane, my mom could not get me to a hospital. After a lot of tests the doctors still do not understand why my body did not shut down.
For 2 years, my mom and I lived in Virginia Beach with my grandparents, then moved to Alabama where she married someone I cannot remember. During that time with this guy she had my sister then mom divorced him. After a few years my mom met the man who is still my step dad, Mark. My mom had found it difficult to find a man who would love me too.
At the age of 7, I was removed from the custody of my mom and Mark. I later became a ward of the state which led to being pushed from one family to another while in foster care. Each time I was told that that would be the last time when really it wasn’t.
When I was 12, I was placed in the Springfield Children’s Home and was assigned a case worker who was supposed to help me adjust and get ready to survive on my own. The state had given up on finding a family to adopt me, which was something I desperately wanted. My friends all talked about their families and I didn’t have anyone.
One day I heard a rumor from the staff that someone might adopt me. I could not figure it out what was going on until the day the state told me to pack all my clothes because I was going to yet another family. Leery and skeptical I didn’t believe or bother packing until I saw the person who wanted me was the woman who was assigned to help me. Her name is Mary Lou Rhodes, it was who I had grown to like.
I am very grateful that she took me in at 13 and gave me a strong stable family. She had it in her mind to give me a great life and stuff I never had before. She bought me my first car, which I sold for a profit. I then made a decision to purchase a new 2009 Jeep Liberty; my pride and joy.
Whenever I am not studying or working I love to go Jeepin; off-road and enjoying nature. My Jeep is my pride and joy; my sign of independence because I can say it is mine and that I’m paying for it. I am a part of the culture-rich Jeep community, which requires a special person. Jeeps are designed for the trail and not the road and most of my weekends are spent in northern Ohio, trailing on public trails. Though we off-road, the Jeep community has a saying, “tread lightly”. Our goal is strictly to have fun and enjoy the wonders of nature while not damaging the environment around us.
In my search for a job I came across a company named Colby Properties. I faxed my resume and a day or two later I got a call asking me to come in for a group interview. Wow, that was interesting. When I showed up for the interview, there were a lot of older people there and I thought that they were more qualified than me and more likely to get the position. After the group interview, I was called back for a longer interview with Donna and Kevin. Within a day, I got hired and met Mr. Cowgill for the first time.
Working here at Colby Properties has really been a wonderful learning experience. As part of Mr. Cowgill’s solid training program, I have read all the systems that Mr. Cowgill created and was impressed because I normally have a hard time reading and staying focused on what I’m reading. I enjoyed all of his materials and never lost focus. At first it was a typical job where I digested a lot of information and got overwhelmed until I got a grasp of everything. From listening to the audios and reading what people are saying about his private lending home study systems, it’s amazing to see how effective the product is.
After a few months with the company, I volunteered to help him when he traveled because Jake was on vacation. When I traveled with him I saw the other side of his business; which is a lot harder then I ever realized. While out with him, I saw how much hard work he puts into staying close with family, while still growing his business.
I was hired as the shipping clerk at Colby Properties and I knew absolutely nothing about private lending. Through my training program, I found out a lot about how private lending works. I was always raised with the notion if you wanted to buy a house you had to establish credit and go to a bank for a mortgage. Now honestly, the way private lending works is simple. Find a lender, offer them a high rate of return, and bam you have an unlimited supply of money without banks. I love learning new things and Alan Cowgill and the crew have taught me a lot. I am happy to be working for Mr. Cowgill and continue to grow as a person and learn new things.
In my short time with Mr. Cowgill, I’ve learned a ton. Let me share just a few of them with you.
1. The concept of using private lenders money to fund your real estate deal. Awesome concept that Mr. Cowgill has perfected, and one that I’ll use when I get ready to purchase my 1st home.
2. Mr. Cowgill’s dedication to keeping his students safe by providing SEC education as it pertains to private lending. I have enjoyed reading this legal material. You’ll see why in a minute.
3. Cool, structured hiring process that worked for meJ
4. Maybe one of the major areas is Mr. Cowgill’s focus on systems. Mr. Cowgill had numerous systems in place when I hired in such as hiring, training & shipping systems. The heart of these is his check sheets, which he now has me also creating.
5. He teaches how folks can remove CHAOS from their real estate business at his live event in August. It’s called the Financial Freedom Boot Camp and I hope you get to attend because I’ll be there and I’d love to meet you.
I am studying to be a lawyer. I am currently in school to study law because I would like to become an international lawyer. I love to read the laws in the international community and give my opinion on how I think issues should be handled.
Overall, though by some folks standards, I have had a difficult childhood, I would not want to change it at all. I’ve learned a lot and continue to grow as a person.
http://www.truthaboutprivatelending.com
Alan Cowgill speaks to a group of real estate investors at a REIA all day workshop about how to use the funds in private lender’s IRA accounts. Read the rest of this entry »
Hey all. I am Donna and I have been working for Alan Cowgill for a little over three years. Without a doubt, it’s the most educational, demanding, thought-provoking, detail oriented, satisfying, fun job I have ever had. That’s saying a lot because I am a mother of 2 adult children, grandmother of 1, and a 20-year veteran of the United States Air Force.
My daughter is 22 and, like a lot of young people, is doing what it takes to find her place in the world. She is a wonderful mother and I am very proud of her. My son just graduated from high school and will be taking classes at The Ohio State University in the fall, working towards a degree in architectural design. I’m proud of him too. My three month old grandson is such a joy and I am spoiling him every chance I get.
I joined the Air Force shortly after high school, left home, and rarely looked back for 17 years. I made a tough decision, but it was the right decision and a decision I do not regret to this day even though it took me away from my family for a lot of years. The Air Force was a good fit for me. I was already a hard worker and highly disciplined; my experiences there honed these skills. I traveled all over the world and got to see and do things I know I never would have if I had stayed home. I was stationed in Alaska (twice), England, Mississippi, Arizona, California, Turkey and right down the road at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio, where I retired. I was temporarily assigned to locations in Italy, Germany, Texas, Alabama, Nevada, and various parts of California. Of all the places I have been, Turkey was my favorite. It’s a beautiful country, chockfull of historical and religious significance; with some of the nicest people I have ever met anywhere and the most amazing food.
I spent the first 9 years as a mechanic working on aircraft support equipment and 11 years as a paralegal working both the defense and prosecution. I learned to follow directions and checklists to the “T”.
I had never heard of private lending before I interviewed with Mr. Cowgill. I was initially hired for the shipping position in Colby Properties, but by the time my first day arrived, I had been moved to a position in Integrity Home Buyers, Mr. Cowgill’s real estate investing business, where my job was to manage the properties and work with the tenants. Within 3 weeks, I had also acquired accounts payable for both companies and private lender management. I loved it. Although I had budget experience, I had no QuickBooks experience. Thankfully, Mr. Cowgill was very patient with me and we did eventually find someone to work with me in Integrity.
Being an organization fanatic, I guess I was the right fit for completing and keeping track of the paperwork for the purchase and sale of the properties, caring for the private lenders and tenants, and the payable and receivable accounts. The attention to detail and ability to follow check sheets that became a routine for me in the Air Force transferred perfectly into my life in Integrity. Even a very small error or delay in the paperwork can be a huge deal and cost you more than you can imagine. Get the money, find the house, inspect the house, make the offer, get the house, fix the house, determine your exit strategy. Do it again and again. The promissory notes have to not only be exact, but the loans need to be tracked and the paperwork filed correctly. The Third Party Administrator paperwork for the private lender’s IRA loan needs to be processed correctly and timely. As for the tenants, there is more paperwork than you would think. It’s not just a lease agreement. It’s notes, mortgages, IRAs, and HUD statements; purchase and sales agreements, maintenance issues, and evictions. How do you handle it all? You need a system and check sheets. I was in my element.
A little more than a year into my time at Integrity, I got a call from my brother, who is a contactor and still lives in the town we grew up in in Northern Ohio. He was struggling with his company and trying to branch out into other areas and asked me come work with him. I had spent a lot of years away from home and had only begun working on rebuilding my relationships with two of my brothers. It took me a long time to realize how important all of my family is. Because of this, I felt that I had to leave Mr. Cowgill and become a part of my family again. It was a very hard decision. He was very understanding and we came to an agreement.I would work part time in the office once a week to pay the bills and remotely beyond that, so I didn’t really leave.
I worked with my brother for only 5 month before I returned full time to Mr. Cowgill’s office. In the end, the economy was changing, my brother’s company couldn’t support me and I wanted to come home. I missed my kids, my house, and was finding a long-distance relationship difficult to manage. I hated the day I told my brother that I was leaving him more than I did when I told Mr. Cowgill. I would not trade that time back with my family for anything in the world. I left there knowing my brothers as adults instead of remembering them as the tormentors of my youth. During our time together, my brother and I talked a lot about Mr. Cowgill and his use of private lenders. Eventually that led to Scott becoming one of Mr. Cowgill’s students. We convinced him to make an investment in his future and get one of the real estate investing courses.
When I got back to the office, my job changed again.changed.expanded.changed.expanded? OK, expanded. While I was still working in Integrity, I also took on responsibilities in Colby Properties too. I am still working in both companies and loving it more than I did three years ago. I enjoy coming to work. I started out creating new products and have added coordinating events and management of the office. I take a lot of pride in creating a product that can help students improve their business and become successful. Did I mention that I love my job? I really do.
It’s hard to say which part I like the best. In Integrity, I enjoy working with the tenants, the private lenders and making sure all of our paperwork is in order. The tenants are my favorite because they are such a trip. No two problems, issues, conversations, or months are the same. I just have to laugh. I get a lot of satisfaction out of keeping on top of all of their issues and making sure they are as happy as they can be with us. I also enjoy the payables and receivables accounts that I manage for, now, all four of Mr. Cowgill’s companies. I have learned to love numbers.
In Colby, there is so much satisfaction in working with our students; helping them with their problems, answering their questions, and getting them into boot camps. When I talk to a student who raves about one of the programs and has amassed a ton of money, there is such a feeling of pride knowing that we helped him or her do that. I love the boot camps. I like to see the faces that go with the names I see on a regular basis. I like to learn about the students and where they are in their business. I especially like watching all the different aspects of private lending come together and the lights coming on all across the room. Brilliantly blinding by the last day. If you haven’t been, I don’t know what you’re waiting for. That’s what I tell my brother every time I talk to him.
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