Mortgage & Commercial Lending News.

So you found this blog and you are reading it. Congratulations! Chances are you are considering acquiring a property through a private or “Hard Money” loan, or maybe you are just beginning to learn what is needed to become a real estate investor and are thus leisurely "surfing the net" to see what information is readily available on the topic. It might have also crossed your mind at some point that you want to know why it is that other people invest in real estate. Potential clients often ask us whether investing in real estate still makes sense for individuals. So, we spent a few hours jotting down a few ideas that could become helpful pointers to our readers.

At AMI Lenders in Houston, we have been helping real estate investors in many ways other than by providing them with private money mortgages. Over the years, one of these ways has been to answer questions related to real estate. One question we keep being asked year after year is: What aspects could help someone sell a house faster?

At AMI Lenders, we are primarily interested in what is happening in Houston, TX, and its surroundings. However, that does not mean we ignore what happens elsewhere in the country. During the first days of March, we read an interesting text (“Remember the mall?”) in a newsletter^[1], which is mailed daily to one of us by the Los Angeles Times. In the said newsletter, author Ryan Fonseca talks about what is happening with malls in Southern California (and broadly elsewhere in the country). The article by Mr. Fonseca ties in nicely with what we posted in mid-2022 about trends in commercial real estate (link here) and, particularly, retrofitting Class B and C malls, even though some of the California cases discussed happen to be retrofitting of Class A malls. So, let’s delve further into the topic.

Many people have no idea how much demand there is for the services of hard money lenders. However, statistics show that the United States generates more than $570 billion yearly in real estate loans and collateralized debt! More than 548,000 people around the country are employed to provide for all the demand for such loans.

In our previous entry, we presented some trends and forces affecting commercial real estate, specifically those related to office properties, retail properties, and industrial properties. This article discusses the trends and market forces affecting Multifamily properties. 

At AMI Lenders, we want our customers to succeed and take advantage of the financial opportunities provided by real estate investments. We strive to communicate the multiple facets of real estate investing through our blogs. For example, how investing in real estate can be carried out, how hard money loans can assist investors or homeowners achieve their financial goals, and why we consider it to be an essential investment tool available to men and women interested in getting ahead financially. In this article, we would like to highlight -for first-time investors as well experienced investors- some benefits of investing in real estate property.

A lot has been said and written about “making your money work for you,” a colloquial, charming way to refer to passive income (that is, income that does not come from those employment or activities to which you dedicate most of your time in order to generate said income). Still, we think our faithful readers can benefit from being reminded that there are ways of generating passive income in the real estate industry, taking advantage of hard money loans.

Covid-19 has had a significant impact on the global economy and, closer to home, on the Commercial Real Estate industry. Companies that carry on business in commercial real estate premises have had to make many changes due to the lockdowns and instructions to stay at home. This has led to companies digitizing their operations, conducting operations online, ensuring the health and safety of employees, and protecting their employees' financial health. 

Most think of "hard money lenders" as risk-takers, loan sharks, high-interest-rate lenders, lenders that require no documentation, and/or lenders who lend only to individuals with bad credit.

Ever since the coronavirus broke out, stay-at-home orders were imposed everywhere, with people only allowed to step out when it was necessary. The pandemic forced many people to work from home as they couldn't leave their homes to go to work because of the risk of falling sick.