1. How many years have you been in Private Lending and why did you enter this field? 

I have been in Private Lending since 2010. In 2006, I started a commercial real estate marketing consulting company which ended up being a failed business model. It was still operating and generating revenue, but I wanted to start a new real estate-related web-based business. I spent months brainstorming new ideas and then read about private lending in a commercial real estate industry magazine. I searched for websites where I could learn about different private lending companies, and none existed at the time.

2. Where did you get your start?  

In 2009, I contacted a small number of private lenders that I could find online and told them about my idea to build a website where real estate investors and brokers could find reputable private lenders throughout the country. Everyone liked the idea and was willing to pay a referral fee for closed loans. I began doing some marketing to generate leads for private lenders, and it was working. I decided to build a new website to list the lenders, and 6 months later, in October 2010, PrivateLenderLink.com officially launched.

3. What is your current role and how does that affect your company at large?

I’m the CEO of Private Lender Link, Inc. and the only employee. Several others support the business, but they are all contractors. My virtual assistants in the Philippines are managed by Scale Virtually, based in Chicago. Web development is managed by Reaction, a web/marketing agency in Alberta, Canada. I have 2 marketing consultants and will likely add 2 or 3 more this year. It’s great to have a lean operation with low overhead, but it’s been slow to grow without an in-house team. I hope to change that in the near future.

4. How have you seen your company grow in spite of or because of current market conditions?  

Our monthly recurring revenue took a big hit in Q4 2022 when many lenders paused or scaled back lending activity. However, since early January, we’ve seen a lot of interest from lenders to join our platform. Some are backed by institutional capital, and others are small local or regional lenders that have delegated funds to deploy.

5. What are some of your goals for 2023 and beyond? 

My first goal for 2023 is to rebuild our database and implement lots of automation. We’ve built up a huge database over the past 8 years, but it needs to be cleaned up and expanded. My second goal for 2023 is to obtain a Series 65 securities license and become a registered investment advisor. We are planning to launch a new service this year to generate leads for mortgage funds and lenders that offer note investments. The third goal is to start building a new web platform for lenders to share their loan programs and get matched with brokers/investors. We just obtained a trademark for it. 

6. What does success look like for you?  

I feel good about what I’ve achieved so far, but I have a lot more to accomplish before I feel successful. 

7. What is something most people don’t know about you or your company? 

After 12 years in this business, I have never originated a single loan and don’t have much interest in doing so. I enjoy my role in the private lending industry and enjoy what I do. Obviously I don’t make the big bucks that originators make, but my business has a lot of potential to generate consistent revenue without being involved in transactions.

8. What steps are you or your company taking today to make an impact on the industry?

We have published a lot of informational videos and articles over the past 2 years to educate the public about private lending, and the feedback has been extremely positive. My team is in the process of creating a more efficient system for producing content so that we can double or triple the output. Additionally, we will soon launch a new technology platform which will automate connections within our industry. The primary use will be for brokers and real estate investors to connect with lenders, but it will also be used by lenders to connect with service providers, and for note investors to connect with originators.

9. What piece of advice did you personally receive early in your career that has helped shape decisions you’ve made? 

Just before my senior year of high school, I started working for a real estate broker. I was his assistant and managed all the marketing. Over the course of 3 years working there, my boss constantly reminded me to set goals and write them down. I failed to take his advice at the time but eventually started goal-setting years later and realized that it’s such an essential habit that everyone should do in their career and personal life.

10. Tell us about a person or organization you admire. How have they made an important impact on you, the industry, or the world? 

One person in our industry that I admire is Charles Hershson (aka Uncle Chuck), the Chairman of Fidelity Mortgage Lenders in Los Angeles. Over the course of 50 years, he managed to build an extremely successful private lending business with a lower maximum loan-to-value than any other lender I’ve ever known. He could’ve increased his company’s loan volume exponentially by increasing their maximum leverage to levels that most of his competitors do. Instead, he chose to be more conservative and still thrived over the past decade. The few times I’ve had a conversation with Uncle Chuck at a California Mortgage Association event, he has reminded me that “it’s all about the servicing”. His advice to any private lending shop is to build a servicing portfolio to have recurring revenue and not to rely heavily on origination fees. I reminded him that I’m not a lender, but I share his practice of striving for monthly recurring revenue. 

11. Are you involved in any associations, networking groups, or the like that have influenced your career path?  

I am a member of 3 private lending trade organizations: American Association of Private Lenders (AAPL), California Mortgage Association (CMA), and National Private Lenders Association (NPLA). All of them have been tremendously beneficial to my business. Most of the lenders on our platform I’ve met in person at the associations’ live events. In addition to networking, I get lots of great insights and education from these groups. I learn by having conversations with lenders. I learn about various services that support private lending. I get market intel and keep up to date with everything happening in our industry. I currently chair the Marketing Committee for CMA, and I’m on the NPLA’s Membership Committee.

12. If you had a clean slate to start over and do anything you wanted to do, what would that be?  

Having worked at a real estate brokerage in high school, I figured out early on that I didn’t want to be an agent, but I loved the real estate business and instead wanted to build a web technology business in real estate. During my senior year in high school, I started attending community college at night and had the opportunity to learn whatever I wanted to. If I had to start over, I would’ve learned advanced programming and database management. That knowledge would’ve enabled me to build a technology business early on. Being more of a business mind, I took all the real estate classes, accounting, and other business-related courses. It’s never too late to learn programming, but at this stage in my life, it’s more efficient to hire others to build the technology. 

13. What is the best advice you could give someone thinking about making a leap into Private Lending?

My best advice for someone thinking about making a leap into private lending is to study the industry extensively before diving in. Attend multiple industry conferences and talk to as many people as possible. Over the past 8 years, I’ve seen so many companies (originators, capital providers, and service providers) that were attracted to private lending, jumped in, and then realized it’s not a good fit. Private lending is a small sector of the mortgage industry, and it’s extremely competitive.