Real danger of asking for private money - long bitter post
I debated on posting this because the incident has discourage me so much. But here it is:
Last Friday I arrived home to a business card from a detective from our police department. I had just got home from visiting my Dad in the hospital, and began returning all of my missed calls and found I also had a voice mail from the detective. Concerned that something was wrong, I called him back. When we finally talked, he let me know that my name came up in an investigation and wanted to talk to me. Since I'm not a criminal and don't associate with them either, this now had me extremely curious.
The detective stops by later and asked if I knew a couple who are investors in my town. And of course I do. They flip houses routinely, buy at the master commissioner sale fairly often(courthouse steps), have the capability to pay with cash and close quickly. I "got lucky" a few months back when my broker passed me their contact info as good investors to wholesale properties to/work deals with.
My relationship with the couple is short, not even a year, but since we've met I've offered them 3 wholesale houses. The first opportunity I called them, they drove by, didn't want. The 2nd house, we met at the house and walked through it. This was our first face-to-face meeting and the house wasn't for them, but they wanted an agent who could negotiate short sales for them to buy, had leads, and they were fine paying wholesaling or bird dog fees. I was excited because now I get to deal with real investors instead of tire kickers, which seems like the majority of calls I get.
The August foreclosure sale included a property that was a borderline good deal, the house was well maintained and needed minimum work, but was a great buy for a cheap rehab and borderline if you took the rehab farther. I noticed the investors above were working on a prior foreclosure home that they bought at the foreclosure sale, it's on a street that I travel multiple times almost daily. So I stopped and talked to them outside and told them I was close to having this available as a deal and asked if they were interested. After talking preliminary numbers, we agreed that it was borderline but a possibility.
During a walk through of the potential pre-foreclosure deal, I was permitted to take pictures for my investor clients. Again I stopped and talked to them (outside) at their current flip home, showed pics and discussed the possibility of a deal. Ultimately they passed on the opportunity, no big deal, it still makes a great rental purchase so I have other investors to contact.
As a sidebar to the story, I have flip home that I am working on, and I wanted to get a small private money loan to finish up and cover some expenses to get me through until it sold. I felt like I had a good relationship with these particular flip investors, so I called them and asked if they wanted to give a 2nd mortgage for $3k to $5500 loan at a high interest rate (can't remember but like 25% to 35%). The full amount makes a huge difference to me. The ARV is $89k to $94k, and I'm nearly finished with it, and there's a first mortgage of $58,800. The husband was interested in making the loan but not sure, would take to the wife and call me later. The next morning he called me and said the wife wasn't comfortable and would pass. No big deal.....
Until Friday when the detective shows up. The detective is asking if I know them, yes I do... had I been to their house, yes I have..... Did I ask them for money, yes I asked if they wanted to give a loan... have I stopped talking to them? NO I just don't have a deal close enough to call them yet and offer it to them. Apparently they had a break in at their house and tools stolen.
Then the detective, with my daughters home, asks if he can look in my garage without a search warrant. Now I'm offended and starting to get mad. But I don't have anything to hide and agree. Then he looks in the trunk of my dad's cars that I'm driving while Dad is in the hospital. So I figure why stop there, lets go look at my flip house and the storage building there. So we do. Before we left he asked me if I'd take a polygraph and of course I don't care. Then it hits me that the best clients that I had developed so far to wholesale deals to, now think I stole from them. With the detective standing there, I called them up and told them I didn't have anything to do with any burglary they had and I hope they catch who did. The investor blew me off.
I went from offended, hurt, to angry in a very short period of time. I work my butt off to learn and take action to feed my family. Times may be difficult, but to be accused of stealing without technically "being accused" has me over the top upset. I can't decide if I should quit the business or keep pressing on to make things happen. I don't think working hourly is going to give my daughter's the best life they deserve. And although there's financial difficulty, I want to prove to my daughters that hard work pays off. You have to hustle and you will be rewarded. I'll get my flip house done somehow soon enough and continue my way to success.
This Monday will be the September foreclosure sale at the courthouse, and I'll be there along with the investors. I have words for them, but can't decide if I should ignore them, unleash what I'd really like to say for accusing me (maybe they were just covering all the bases for investigation), or just wish them well. Not sure that I'd ever work with them again anyway.
Moral.... Be careful of whom and when you ask for a private money loan, coincidence can leave you looking like a scum bag thief.