Contract for Private Lending

[Steve Balinski]

Hello, I'm very interested in becoming a private money lender. I've found 1 local attorney who's written lending notes before.  He said just to start and get a basic contract with my preferences would be about $2k, does that sound right? Seems pretty steep.  If I lend 30K for 12 months at 12% I only walk out with $1600 if I subtract the attorney fee alone + any other related fees.  Doesn't seem worth it, at all.  What am I missing?  Even if I lend 50K it doesn't seem worth it.

[Chris Seveney]

That is high but also it's a cost your borrower should be paying not you. Typically it will be 800-1200 - what state is this in?