Alan Cowgill’s Blog

While many of you are trying to be a one-man or one-woman show
– the owner, manager, rehabber, rent collector, bookkeeper,
plumber, electrician, and everything else for your business –
a much easier and more profitable way is to build a team.
You don’t need to know everything there is to know about
everything. If you are not an attorney, […]

Every now and then, I have students ask me if my home study
system is compatible with SEC regulations…
Yes, it is compatible.
I realized, for the benefit of my students, I needed to
address these folks concerns.
While speaking all over the nation, meeting thousands of real
estate investors the past couple of years and getting ask
these same SEC questions, […]

When you pool money from private lenders, you’re putting
funds together from two or more different private lenders.
You obvously need to look at doing something different
where your states paperwork is concerned. This means you will
need to file paperwork with your state and provide a
disclosure document to your potential private lenders.
In Ohio, for example, we have what […]

Everytime I speak I get ask…
“What if I need more money to buy and fix the house than I can
get from one private lender?”
This is the #1 question I get. The answer is easy and I see
light bulbs go on as soon as they hear the answer.
Look, you can NOT pool your lenders money. It […]

I’d like to expand on three steps that can make your
luncheon even more successful whether you are preparing for
your first or you have already held a luncheon or two.
1) A week before: Contact relatives, friends,
and acquaintances
2) The day before: Make confirmation calls
3) The day of: Use attendees’ names
Let me explain my thoughts on each of […]

You have learned in previous newsletters and in great detail
in “Private Lending Made Easy” how to make your luncheons
attractive, comfortable, and a very pleasant experience. So,
why wouldn’t someone want to attend a lovely luncheon at a
nice location for fre*e? Well, people are funny sometimes.
Maybe they don’t want everyone to know they have enough money
to invest. […]

I always get a lot of questions about how to handle the
money so I’d like to go over a few of the basics.
- Touching the Money
Sometimes when people hear the kind of interest I pay
they will get so excited about loaning me money that they
want to hand me a big check right on the spot. […]

This very possibly could be the most important newsletter I
have ever written for some of you.
What do you do when you have cash flow issues?
This can cripple your business whether your are an experienced
RE investor or if your a beginner.
In early 2002, I had hit the wall. A $10,000 a month negative
cash flow problem. I’d […]

Whether you have no private lenders yet or a bunch of them,
you must have a disclosure document.
This is a no option item.
When you are looking to get a new private lender, the first
thing you hand them is a disclosure document.
You see all investments are risky. Therefore you have to tell
your private lenders that in your […]

The end of the summer is approaching but there’s still time to jump into your pool. When it comes to working with private lenders, it’s possible to jump into pooling them any time of year. Pooling money is different from working with individual private lenders and takes a different approach. In most states, it’s legal […]