Met a guy at a cigar bar in Miami who told me he's a loan shark
Thought he meant broken kneecaps. He pulled out his phone and showed me a spreadsheet with 9 names on it and $418,000 next to them
He's 31 and he's never had more than $20,000 of his own
He lends to house flippers
A flipper can get a loan to buy the house. Almost nobody will lend him the money to fix it. The lenders who do charge 12% plus 3 points and pay it out in slow little checks after an inspector shows up, so the flipper sits there with no kitchen paying $2,400 a month to own a gutted house
This guy pays for the whole renovation himself. Cabinets, flooring and appliances go on his business credit cards at Home Depot and Floor & Decor. The contractor's invoices go through a bill pay service that takes cards for about 2.9%
The flipper pays him nothing until the house sells
His price: everything he put in, plus 20% of the profit, $10,000 minimum
Receipts from his phone:
House in Hialeah: put in $46,000, sold in 5 months, his cut was $21,400
Duplex in Tampa: put in $61,000, his cut was $27,000
A guy in Orlando who ran out of money with half a bathroom: put in $18,000, got the $10,000 minimum 7 weeks later
Last year he did 14 houses and made $287,000
Every dollar he lent came from Chase, Amex, Bank of America and US Bank at 0%. A 740 score and an LLC got him $212,000 in one week. His wife did the same thing with her own LLC. The cards are 0% for the first 12 months, the average house is done in 5, and the money is back before the banks charge him a cent
"what if the flipper just doesn't pay him"
Before he spends a dollar, a title company records a lien on the house for about $500. The house can't be sold or refinanced until he's paid. He gets his money at the closing table before the flipper sees any
"what if the house doesn't sell"
It happened once. Ocala, sat for 11 months, he lost $11,000. Now he has rules:
1. Only houses where the purchase plus the repairs come in under 70% of what it'll sell for
2. Never more than $60,000 in one house
3. Half his total limit stays unused, always
4. He pays the vendors directly. The flipper never touches cash
5. He only lends to LLCs. Lending to a person on the house they live in needs a license in most states
Where he finds them: every city has a real estate investor meetup. Search "REIA" and your city. Walk in and ask who's halfway through a rehab and out of money. He says half the room raises a hand
he calls himself a loan shark because "private lender" never got him a free drink. Chase lends to him at 0% and he lends it to guys holding a sledgehammer for a fifth of the house lmfaooo
(700+ score: 100K-250K at 0%. link in bio)