Investment Opportunity Help

[Quoc Ho]

Hey BP, 

Have an opportunity some of you guys might be able to help me out with.  Some investors we've recently met through a mutual friend are in need of some funding for a big project.  Most of their cash is tied up in houses right now that they are flipping and waiting to be sold.  They found a multi-home property for a couple hundred thousand but they said it was appraised for about a million.  They just need some funding in order to get the process going.  They requested $81,000 and said that they'll payback the money plus a 100% return.  Turnaround time would be around 3 months.  We asked them how can they afford so much of a return and they said with the amount that they are going to make of this investment, $81,000 is affordable to them, they just need help with the initial capital.  They said we can put a lien on the property to insured we will get paid.

Question is: is this too good to be true, what are some questions we should be asking before we finance them, what can we do to ensure we do not get ripped off.

Any answers or help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[Steve Vaughan]

I would verify a lot of things and ask for lender's insurance to insure your position in the lien line.  Gotta do your DD on these.  Actual seller?  Actual property?  Actual purchase?  Physically look at it and comp it out.  At least you met them through a mutual friend.  I would look into their current projects and get references from other lenders as well.  Good luck @Quoc Ho!