Team

Mark’s real estate career spans 35 years, including 25 years in commercial development and property management and 10 years in private lending. He founded Pacific Private Money in 2008, and has grown the company to over $110 million in annual volume, 350 investor clients and is manager of three mortgage funds. A recognized authority in the private lending space, he is an author and radio personality, and frequent guest speaker at industry events.

Lisa is Senior Vice President of Pacific Private Money Inc., and is Director of Client Services. Lisa has been a licensed real estate agent since 1999. She earned her MBA from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley. Lisa co-founded the company with her husband Mark and has worked in multiple capacities through the years including loan documentation and investor funding.

Nam oversees the daily operations of the staff and office, and leads the company’s marketing initiatives. Mr. Phan has been in the real estate industry since 1999, holding senior level leadership positions in operations and business development for a number of real estate franchisors and technology companies including HomeSmart and Proxio.

For over 20 years Edward Brown was CEO of a $40 million alternative lending company based in Marin County. Today he assists Pacific Private Money with capital raising and investor presentations. Edward is also the host of two radio shows —The Best of Investing with Mark Hanf and Sports Econ 101, a national sports and business show. Edward earned his B.S. in Accounting and M.S in Taxation from Golden Gate University, and has held licenses and certifications including Real Estate Salesperson, Insurance License, Series 7 Securities License, Tax Preparation License, and Certified Fund Specialist.

Rick has over 30 years’ experience in banking, underwriting and real estate lending. He has worked with firms including Household Finance, First Interstate Bank, and with Wells Fargo as the State Senior Underwriter for the bank’s California lending operations. Rick is a former board director of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers, is an active member of the Elks and volunteers as a coach in community sports programs.

Mirka Garrett’s track record  within the lending industry dates back 2007, as a Mortgage Associate/Coordinator, with accountability for broad-scope processes focused on ensuring critical compliance within company policies and procedures as well as government regulatory standards for business purpose, as well consumer purpose (TRID) transactions.

I started in the mortgage business in 1992, at the beginning of a wild refi boom that lasted until 1994. I had learned a lot in a relatively short time, and in the lull that followed the boom I took a few months off and used my experience to write the first edition of my book, Mortgages: The Insider’s Guide, and then plunged back into the mortgage world. I made a lucky connection with a start-up real estate company specializing in the hot and brand new thing in San Francisco – live/work lofts. At that time there were no residential mortgages available for live/work, but through a personal connection I got Eureka Bank interested in live/work, and Eureka became the first bank to do conventional loans in the live/work space, using me as a broker. More lenders then followed, and by 1996 I was the number one loft lender in San Francisco until the end of the dot-com boom. In the early 2000s I refocused my business on Marin, where I had lived since moving to the bay area in 1986. I helped steer my three kids through college, wrote a second edition of my book and became a regular mortgage source for financial media, including the WSJ, SF Chronicle, LA Times, Business Week, and the Washington Post,

I always had some involvement in private money, because the conventional company I worked for had a private money arm, and a portion of my business always included private money lending; I also invested in many private money deals. Over four years ago I moved over to private money full-time, as the VP and broker of record for ACM Investor Services. I love creative problem solving, and private money is an arena where experience can make the difference in making difficult deals come together by finding a way to make them work for both borrowers and investors.

Kevin is a broker-associate at Pacific Private Money with over 18 years of experience in commercial and residential mortgage originations. Kevin’s background includes all facets of real estate, with a specific emphasis on private money and hard money loan originations. Kevin, who was born and raised in Silicon Valley, is also an active real estate investor in California, Nevada, and Utah. Kevin received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Chico State University and a Master of Science in Business Management from Notre Dame De Namur University.

Gus is a loan agent for the firm, specializing in both residential (owner-occupied, rehab, fix and flip) as well as small commercial real estate lending. Gus has 20 years of hard money experience, working 16 years for one of Florida’s largest hard money lenders before moving to California. Gus is fluent in Spanish.

Matt is a loan agent for the company, specializing in private construction lending, equity placement and lending for projects over $2M. Matt’s real estate career spans 20 years, and includes Aspen Private Equity Group which he was co-founder. Matt has negotiated debt and equity placements on projects ranging from small fix and flips up to $10M joint ventures, as well as capital advisory for large projects ($5M to $100M) in California, Colorado, and Hawaii.

Sofia is dedicated to helping individuals with unique lending needs, drawing on her more than 15 years of experience in mortgage and real estate to find creative solutions that work. After growing up in Sweden, Sofia moved to the Bay Area in 1995 and quickly dove into the lending and real estate market. A Certified Mortgage Planner and Real Estate Broker, she also holds an MBA in Finance and Real Estate from Golden Gate University along with an undergraduate degree with honors from San Francisco State University.

A mortgage and financing professional since 1993, Frank brings a wealth of experience to Pacific Private Money. His past includes experience in the areas of Risk Management, Quality Control, Compliance, Secondary Marketing, Loss Mitigation, Investor Relations, Repurchase Review, and Loan Servicing.

A Sonoma County native, avid film buff and musician; Frank has worked at local mortgage companies such as, North American, Headlands, Greenpoint, Homecomings, and First Priority. At Pacific Private Money, Frank integrates all aspects of the loan origination process prior to document disclosure; from inception, through Underwriting, and Investor commitment.

Mark has over 20 years Accounting and Finance experience in various capacities and industries.   Mark is skilled at drilling down to transaction/workflow details in support of process and profit improvement.  Mark has created solutions to problems that have saved companies time and money.  He has previously held positions such as Assistant Controller, Accounting Manager, and Financial Reporting Manager.

As Production Assistant, Sophia assists in the coordination of timely drafting, auditing and delivery of documents to ensure a seamless process from loan origination to final closing. Prior to joining the firm, Sophia worked for two years at US Bank.

Ryan runs the company’s loan servicing department and manages borrower loan payments, loan payoffs, and distributions to our hundreds of investor clients. He is also responsible for collections, delinquencies and insurance matters.