We have become to go-to resource for many Bay Area real estate investors thanks to our no-nonsense pricing and quick closing.  Whether short-term for fix & flip, or longer term to finance cash flow property, we have a program that fits the bill.

Our staff of eight real estate professionals stand ready to serve you. Call our office at 415-883-2150 to speak with one of our loan agents.

The proof is in the funding!

We did a record pace of loans, despite the fact that January 2010 was a slow month.  Well, January 2011 came out swinging, and our prediction is that privately-funded real estate loans will be an even bigger investment opportunity in 2011. Banks are stingier than ever, and real estate investors need capital.  The quality of loan requests crossing our desks is the highest we’ve ever seen, with strong borrowers, good real estate and excellent exit strategies for repayment.

If you are seeking capital to leverage your real estate investment activity, you need to give us a call.  Alternatively, if you are an investor who simply wants to put your savings to work earning real yields, you owe it to yourself to investigate our loan products that will pay you anywhere from 8% to 11% fixed annual rates, secured by income-producing investment property in Northern California.

Edward Brown is CEO of Equity Bancorp, a real estate investment company and private lender based in San Rafael.  Ken Winans is a president of Winans International, a respected investment firm in Marin County. Ken has published books, articles and is a regular guest on financial radio and TV shows. Mark Hanf is the broker and founder of Pacific Private Money, an originator of high-yield trust deed investments using Bay Area real estate-secured loans.

Private Money Interview with Mark Hanf

Listen as Going Beyond Real Estate radio show host Michael Yesk interviews Mark Hanf about Private Money Loans.

In the last 30+ years of California real estate I have not seen a market like we have today.  In my lifetime, you could not buy or refinance residential income property with a hard money loan and have positive cash flow.  That has all changed, thanks to the correction.

In cities all over Northern California and the Bay Area, I am making first-position loans in amounts of 60-65% of today’s market value to buyers and owners of short sale and REO properties.  In virtually every case, those properties have a debt service coverage ratio of anywhere from 1.3 to 2.0 with a 12% loan! A debt service coverage ratio is the relationship between the net rental income (rent minus property taxes & insurance) and the loan payment.  A 1.3 debt service coverage ratio (DCSR) means that the net rents are 1.3 times larger than the loan payment.  This is absolutely amazing and unprecedented in California history!

The reason for this is that rents have remained strong in the most popular Bay Area rental markets while property values in those markets have fallen as much 80% from their 2006 high.  This market dynamic has allowed Trust Deed Investors to capitalize on lending opportunities with key safety factors previously unavailable to the private lender.

Where are these markets?  These are working class neighborhoods (and up) in cities such as Vallejo, Fairfield, Vacaville, Pittsburg, Antioch, Brentwood, Oakland and many (if not most) areas of Sacramento.  We’re careful to stay out of the rougher neighborhoods.  We don’t like bars on windows.  The neighborhoods we loan in, while you may not wish to live there, are neighborhoods that you’ll feel quite safe driving through.

If you’re waiting for lending opportunities in areas such as San Francisco, Marin or Silicon Valley, you may find your money sitting around earning nearly zero while others are pulling in 11% returns secured by solid residential income property.  I invite you to learn more about the many opportunities to put your money to work in the markets I mentioned above.  You owe it to your retirement plan!

Private lending gives back to the community and stimulates the local economy.  When you loan to a real estate investor who is using your funds to buy bank-owned property, think of how those funds get multiplied throughout the economy.  This multiplier effect, according to some economists, can be as high as 20; that is, every $1 loaned multiplies to $20 as it works its way through the system.   Consider the following:  Your loan finances a transaction that results in fees to title companies, transfer taxes to the county and sale proceeds to the seller.  The real estate investor hires craftsman to repair and remodel the home.  The remodeled home now qualifies for conventional financing, so the investor might then sell the property to a buyer at a profit.  That’s a lot of new “green” that gets created by your private loan.

Your money helps convert distressed real estate into safe and productive housing. And that’s good for local communities. What can be more “green” than creating opportunity for prosperity and economic vitality?

As an originator of private money (aka hard money) loans, I and brokers like me are doing our part to stoke the flames of economic recovery. And we’re doing it while government passes new regulations making it harder to loan money and while the banks sit idly by allowing loan applications to wither and die.

In the wreckage of the real estate market I seek opportunity and bring parties together for the economic benefit of all.  I simultaneously market for borrowers and investor-lenders, then work my skills to find the right fit.  I search for borrowers such as experienced real estate investors in need of more capital to acquire distressed real estate to either fix & flip or fix & hold.  I search for investors whose savings languish in stocks or bank accounts and show them how they can earn 8-11% annual returns safely and securely.

Experienced real estate investors know how to make money in this market.  To them, borrowing at 10-12% rates makes sense because they stand to make much higher returns using their skills. With the added capital I help them obtain, they are able to acquire more distressed property and turn them into buying opportunities for homebuyers.

I take idle or under-performing capital from the savings of regular people and turn it into a high monthly income stream for them; in turn their private loan helps real estate investors create profits that they spend and/or reinvest; and I earn fees by bringing these parties together.   Capitalism working its magic!

God bless America and may 2010 be a prosperous year for you as well.

The fact is that savvy investors have been enjoying double-digit returns on their savings for years through trust deed investing.  There’s no magic to it, and it’s easy to become familiar with the fundamentals. Like everything nowadays, the information is out there on the internet, and many websites offer articles teaching the ABC’s of trust deed investing.  Is it risky?  If done properly, the risks are highly manageable.  It’s certainly not as “risky”, in my opinion, as investing in the stock market.

Trust deed-secured notes offer high monthly income on your savings.  You can use your trust or self-directed IRA to invest for tax-free or tax-deferred growth.  You choose the note that’s right for you.  It’s not unusual for an investor to choose loans only in certain neighborhoods or on certain types of property.  You have access to all the information we have on the applicant.  Everything is transparent.

My associate and I are currently preparing a series of seminars we will host throughout the Bay Area to talk about trust deed investing.  Let me know if you’d like to be on our mailing list.

Despite unimpressive overall stock market returns over the last ten years, stock market advice abounds.  When was the last time you heard a financial guru talk about alternative investment strategies for income or asset growth? I listen to a lot of talk radio, and I rarely hear mention of investing in real estate trust deeds and mortgages, yet these remain among the most powerful tools for securing high monthly income and double-digit yields.

Today I heard a nationally-syndicated talk show host tell a 40-year old listener that he should have 60% of his savings in the stock market.  Really? To me, that seems to be good advice only if you plan to retire broke or die early.  In my opinion, investing in securities is playing Russian roulette with your savings.   Why would you do that?

Investing in a note secured by a deed of trust offers better security and true transparency, neither of which you’ll find in stocks.  Are there risks? Of course!  But those risks are manageable and quantifiable.  Investigate for yourself the opportunities to earn anywhere from 8% to 12% annual fixed yields on your savings.  Whether you invest through me or through any number of local, trustworthy private loan originators, you owe it to yourself to learn the facts.