A FEW HINTS ON HOW TO SPOT A SCAM

[Admin]

FROM ADMIN:

If a post or comment begins with the following words, I would run the other way:

Good day, Am a private lender, Are you looking for a US based lender, or if someone calls themselves Mr, Mrs, or calls you Sir or Madame. All these are red flags that shout scam, or at the very least, someone from outside of this country. Also, if their phone number is posted showing a number 1 before the area code, this is a RED FLAG!

If their email address is a Hotmail account, stay away. No lender would use Hotmail, it is the universal sign for scam. Gmail and yahoo are all fine. I used a Gmail account back when I was a lender. If it is a small lending shop with only a few employees, there is no reason for a lender to have their own specialized email account.

If a lender offers 100% funding on a commercial property, run the other way!!! One exception, Joint Venture funding will sometimes go to 100% in exchange for an equity percentage of the property. Other than that, there is NO 100% commercial funding.

If you need a lender, use a United States based lender with REFERENCES!

Admin

[Admin]

Yes if anyone is offering you an interest rate below 6% right now for a commercial or residential investment property loan then assume it is a scam. There are DSCR loans available right now starting around 6.25% but anything lower than that I would be suspicious about. That goes for this website, Linkedin, Facebook, or any of the smaller funding websites. This website is monitored pretty well but with thousands of members and only me to look at posts, there are definitely scammers that slip through the cracks. Last year my old Admin and I deleted literally about a third of the membership base in an effort to have a site with as little scams as possible. It took us a couple months to do but the amount of scams and spam went way down. Unfortunately there will always be trash on large websites and I have deleted about 50 more members over the last couple of months. Just let me know if you see a scam and I will either delete the scammer or if I feel it is ok, I will at least look closely at it. I want all of you to have the best experience possible on the Real Estate Finance Website!

[Dr G]

Another red flag - offering a 3% interest rate when the current prime rate is 8.25%

[Dr G]

Other red flags include:

• Listing names and photos of non-existent individuals on their website
• Sending you emails in broken English/failing to make complete sentences/misspelling when everyone has spell-check
• Having their website hosted on a free shared platform with some prefix such as 'cs' -  "https://cs.ourcompany.com/scenario"
• Calls to their main phone number always go to voicemail /never answered by a live person

[Alan Lobato]

One other item you may add to the comments.

Upfront fees

[Louis Rosenberg]

Absolutely!

[HJ Babila]

I agree   100% ,. we dont need top deal with scammers   wasting our time   keep it up ..

[Linda Hair]

I have been  emailing some that i found and i  would love for it to work so that I can grow in my real estate business   but even voicing concerns of scam and asking for references, I am still hesitant on sending money and waiting for transfer of money.  There are a lot out there and it is scary for us that are getting started and needing legit private and hard money lenders or bridge lenders .    I am in need of legit funding so any recommendations would be appreciated.   

linda

[Larry Foster]

Could not agree more with the commthey asked for 350.00 for doc preparation fee's and requested an appraisal. I am personally in a situation with a co that has promised rehab and aquisition monies for a projet I have. Tight closing time and they co has stopped communications. This firm runs ad's on this site and if you want to know who they are, please reach out to me @ [e-mail]

[Joseph A. Chilcote]

As necessary as it is for me to find funding to continue my rehab business, I had to turn down a guy who gave me nothing but red flags.  It was too easy, no security required, no references, incomplete sentences and broken English in emails, a flimsy, unusual contract, and more.  I had no idea there would be scammers here but there are.  I won't say the name because I did not actually do business with him but if someone asks me privately, I would.  Be careful out there. We all know the drill and we all know what normally is going to come at us when we ask for money to do deals.  The owner of this site would do well to introduce a "1-5 Star" system where lenders are rated according to the experiences and successes had by the borrowers.  Then we'd at least have a feel for who we are dealing with.  

[Admin]

Hi everyone, this is the owner of The Real Estate Finance Website. Here are a few other things you should avoid when looking for funding on this or any website:

* Someone that tells you they can give you a loan at a guaranteed rate, 3% for example. Lenders have many different rates and they vary depending on the property, equity position, and borrower qualifications. NOBODY says you have a loan at a rate of 3% without knowing the scenario beforehand, only then do they issue an approval with rate, term, and conditions

* Avoid ANYONE that does not show their phone number in their member profile on this or any website. If they are a real lender, they will show their phone number 100% of the time!!!