If you've been looking for a way to put your money to work without riding the ups and downs of the stock market, private lending probably caught your attention. The upside is real — consistent returns, real estate backed security, and deals you can actually see and touch. The downside is real too when a borrower decides your money is easier to default on than pay back.

How do low ethics borrowers find you? Well its a lot easier today, than it was in the past. Prior to social media, you would meet a prospective borrower at a networking event, maybe through a friend or family, maybe through various relationships, maybe someone in your town that had a great reputation of borrowing and paying back what they owed. Well that has changed with Social Media.  Social media and the internet have made it easier than ever for real estate investors — legitimate and otherwise — to build a polished online presence. A professional website, a LinkedIn profile with impressive credentials, an Instagram feed full of properties and success stories. It looks convincing because it is designed to look convincing.  

What you rarely see on their feed is the foreclosure filing at the county clerk's office, the lender who didn't get paid back, or the public record that tells a very different story than the highlight reel. Anyone can call themselves a fund manager, a flipper, or a real estate authority online. Very few of them are telling you to google their name plus the word 'foreclosure' before you wire them money, tell you to check their Secretary of State website to make sure their entity is still in good standing.

Check out the above URL for the foreclosure filing info on the above mentioned borrower. Then check out their social media links. What a person is doing and what they have done, are sometimes polar opposites. 

Do your homework before you write the check. Search public records. Verify every claim. And read posts like this one — because the investor who got burned before you is often the only one willing to tell you the truth."