My First Sugar Daddy.

     A wholesaler from whom I have purchased several properties mentioned he had a possible deal coming up that he wanted to do a double closing on and asked if I would be interested. (When I purchase from the wholesaler we usually do a single closing because I don’t care what he is earning if there is enough room for me to make the profit I desire. In this case he felt there might be pushback from a buyer he didn’t know.) I indicated I would be interested. 

     On a Friday afternoon, I received an e-mail stating that the deal was ready. The wholesaler had the purchase agreement signed from the seller and an assignment agreement with the end buyer. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on one’s point of view) I had received several strong proposals since we last spoke and I had deployed most of the funds I had available on other projects. I would usually turn the deal down or refer it to other lenders in this situation but this time I asked for a day to raise funds. (Private money is about relationships. I wanted to fund this to strengthen what was already a good one.) The time was granted.

     I was registered to attend an all-day seminar the next day. The topic: How to Raise Private Money. I thought it would be fun to see what I could do while at the seminar. I had never asked for private money before. During the seminar, I sent out six e-mails. All but one went to people for whom I had funded deals previously—I am funding current deals for a couple of them. I also mentioned the deal to a couple people attending the seminar who I suspected had access to funds. Within an hour I had a response stating a strong interest in the deal. Then another came in, then another. The seminar was alright but I didn’t return after the lunch break.

     I received answers from all the people I contacted that day. All told, only one of the people I contacted told me no without any explanation. He didn’t need to provide one. (This is a partner for whom I am currently funding a deal and with whom I expect to participate in many more deals to come.) One wanted to do the deal but needed it to close in the upcoming week because they had another purchase scheduled the week after that. (This was a one-day transactional deal but we did not have the closings scheduled yet and expected it would take a week or so to schedule). A couple people wanted some more information. One of the guys who was at the seminar told me he was interested but he wanted to check with his wife (the deal was funded before he heard from her). A couple people did not have the funds available currently but encouraged me to contact them again if another deal comes up.

     So….I confirmed that I have fairly easy access to many times the amount of funding I was looking for. I cannot stress this enough: private money is a relationship business. Keep your relationships strong. Do what you say you are going to do—better yet, exceed your partners’ expectations and funding may be much easier to find than you think.

     My first private lender, my first sugar daddy, was pleased with the results. I delivered his check at a bar and we caught up with each other's adventures over a selection of whisky. Not only did he offer to participate in similar deals if they come up, he offered to be a guest on my new podcast series “Story Time with Jeff”. I intend to take him up on both of those offers.