Every so often it's a good idea to pause, take a moment and reflect on where you've been and what you've learned. In the case of MMG Capital and our steadily growing lending business, it's especially important that we do it to  make sure that both our partners and our investors fully understand what kind of success we've had with our current program and how it shapes the moves that we're going to make going forward. In this case, it seems only too appropriate to take a look back at the last 12 months and examine our results from 2011, discuss what we see changing, and give some indication of how those changes will effect us for the next 12 months.

MMG Capital recently made some significant updates to its investor website that should be very beneficial to current and potential investors alike. The most significant of all of the changes is the addition of a detailed, searchable, frequently asked question page. While the FAQ section was by far the most frequently visited page, the content was insufficiently organized to answer any of the number of questions that investors were seeking resolution for when visiting the page. The initial update now includes 24 of the most frequently asked questions and some detailed answers to those questions. In the future, even more questions and answers will be added. In addition, the entire frequently asked question archive will be available for download so that it can be easily accessible at all times.

MMG Capital also added a number of Quick Links on its site that should increase the ease of navigation for users and ensure that visitors are able to find the information that they're looking for without having to search through pages and pages of text. The desire is to make the MMG Investor website an accessible store of useful knowledge and information that visitors will find appealing and helpful. This latest round of changes is believed to be a very positive step in that direction. If you haven't visited the site lately you can access it by visiting www.mmginvestors.com or by going directly to the FAQ Section.

We've long held the belief that what's currently happening in our economy isn't just another market cycle. Rather, it's a drastic economic shift that is going to leave lasting effects on the way that we're going to have to think and act as individual investors. "Buy, hold and pray" has now proven to be an unreliable strategy for growing wealth over the long-term, and a much larger number of experts, pundits and credible individuals are now starting to sing the same tune. Alternative investments like Trust Deed Investments or Tax Liens  may not be considered to be 'alternatives' at some point in the future. Instead, these types of investments that offer safety, security and consistent returns may become a mainstay of wealthy investors' portfolios and a relied upon source for wealth preservation and creation. As our marketplace continues to fundamentally erode the possibilities for average investors to have blind success are going to diminish, and unfortunately that means that not giving a care to your investments and leaving to your stock broker may no longer be an option sooner than we think.

These are unprecedented times and there is no doubt that we're not going to be able to rely on the stock market to provide for our retirement. However, alternative assets like Trust Deed Investments don't exist just because the stock market isn't a viable investment vehicle. They exist because they're sound, reliable strategies that aren't typically well-known by and available to the average investor. However, today more than ever before the world of alternative assets is becoming more tangible to the average citizen as investors flock to find new opportunities in this marketplace that will shield them from Wall Street volatility and give them some assurance that they can sleep well at night knowing their money is safe. And, if you begin to listen to certain experts that know what they're talking about, you'll start to hear them endorsing the idea of taking an early exit from traditional thinking and exploring other options.

Sometimes it's tempting to take Mark Cuban, the outspoken and boisterous billionaire, with a grain of a salt. To some he seems offensive. To others he seems like a kid that never grew up. To Dallas Maverick fans he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. But regardless of his persona and the stigma that comes with it, the fact of the matter is that he didn't get to where he is by accident. He's one of the world's few self-made billionaires and he knows a thing or two about the way that money works. He made quite a splash recently on "The Big Interview" where he boldly claimed that the average investor doesn't stand a chance in the world of stock market investing. Specifically, he claimed that the investing strategies of old are "for suckers" and that people need to change their way of thinking if they're ever going to get ahead in the market. His now famous quote from the interview goes as follows: "Buy and Hold is a crock of ****!"

You can watch the interview directly from the Wall Street Journal website.

If what Mark is saying is true, and we absolutely believe that it is,  then it's fair to conclude a couple of different things:

1. The average investor has absolutely no advantage in the stock market. In fact, they have a large disadvantage.
2. Our oldest held beliefs about diversification and holding for the long term may need to be changed sooner rather than later.
3. The greatest risk that we can take is to hold on to the belief that the stock market will always bounce back and provide wealth over the long-term.

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5 Steps to Presenting Deals to Private Lenders

5 Steps to Presenting Deals to Private Lenders  <--- (PDF Download)

There's plenty of information available on the internet about investing in hard money loans, so it's generally safe to assume that most investors have heard of this popular strategy. It goes by a lot of different names, including: Trust Deed Investing, Being the Bank, Private Lending, Secured Lending and many others. Unfortunately, a lot of the details and even some of the basic philosophies that make this investing strategy so powerful in today's marketplace tend to get lost behind the message that these investments generally feature high yields (8 - 15% depending on the circumstances). Nobody's going to complain about the possibility of earning these types of returns, but is that really why investing in hard money loans is a good decision? After all, junk bonds and penny stocks promote the potential for high yields too, but smart investors aren't scrambling to scoop those up. So, it must be something else that makes investing in hard money loans attractive. Let's examine a few of the reasons why investors are loving this popular investment vehicle:

1. Security

The security that hard money loan investments offer is by far their most important feature. Security means that your investment is backed by, supported by, linked to or kept safe by a piece of valuable collateral. It's often helpful to think of investing in a secured loan as "having a Plan B." When you make a loan to a borrower, your investment is really a bet that your borrower is going to make monthly payments and then eventually return your principal. You're investing in a contract - an agreement to receive a specified return for the right to use your money for a period of time. The real estate that the loan is secured by is your Plan B. Should your borrower not abide by the contract that you've invested in, you have another means of recovering your investment. Namely, you have the right to liquidate their asset(s) to pay yourself back. There are very few investments available of any kind that offer this type of investment structure. The ability to protect yourself is by far the most important aspect of any hard money loan investment.

2. Control

When you buy a share of stock you don't get control of a company. You bought the right to stand back and watch someone else make or lose you money. When you buy a corporate bond you buy the right to collect cash flows based on terms that someone else has set. When you invest in hard money loans you call the shots and make the rules. If borrowers don't want to play by your rules then you don't have to lend them any money - plain and simple. You have the opportunity to assess the situation, create loan terms that mitigate your risk, and obligate your borrower to meet certain requirements that you dictate. If they don't, you generally have the right to seek recourse.

3. Income

Investing in hard money loans produces regular income. In a time when cash flow is tight and many investors are looking for a regular paycheck to supplement other lost income, secured lending provides an excellent solution. If hard money loans are structured properly, they can provide a safe, consistent, monthly income to their investors for years. 

4. Attainability

For most investors, shelling out large chunks of cash to buy foreclosure properties or to invest in real estate just isn't a good fit. It requires larger amounts of cash and carries considerably more risk and responsibility. Investing in hard money loans is an attainable solution for almost everyone that has a little bit of cash to invest. There is a multitude of borrowers in the marketplace looking for capital and absolutely no shortage of demand for loans. 

These are really just some of the reasons why investing in hard money loans is beneficial for investors today, but they're also some of the most important. Safety, security and consistent income are all rolled into this single investment vehicle, and investors have definitely taken notice. 

A study was released recently by the Spectrem Group that detailed why millionaire investors are bound to switch financial advisors. The study was called 'The Millionaire Investor 2010' and covered investors with a  net worth between $1 million and $5 million. Some of the results of the study were a little surprising, but not shocking. Among the main reasons why these millionaire investors decided to switch financial advisors was because their phone calls were not returned in a timely manner. 73% of respondents listed this as their top reason for switching. Here are some of the other results:

• 57% listed unhappiness with email response
• 56% said their advisor wasn't proactive in contacting them
• 57% cited failure to provide good ideas and advice

Communication is clearly important to these clients. In fact, it appears to be equally as important as having good ideas in the first place. Here are some of the other statistics related to advisor communication:

• 72% of millionaires expect their advisor to call back within 12 hours
• 26% expect it within 2 hours
• 14% expect  it within the hour
• 37% were satisfied with email response by the next business day
• 16% expect an email response within 2 hours
• 8% expect an email response with the hour

But all of these statistics aside, you could probably guess what the top reason for choosing a new advisor was: honesty and trustworthiness. 96% looked for an advisor who kept clients informed of what they are doing and 90% sought an advisor with a strong investment track record.

Whether you're a millionaire or not, we're interested in knowing what you look for in a financial advisor or an investment sponsor. As someone who is interested in private investments, Trust Deed Investments, Secured Lending and Investing in Hard Money Loans, what's most important to you? Let us know by taking our poll....

There is a certain phrase that's been popping up around mortgage industry water coolers for the past year or so and it seems like it's getting more and more attention as time goes on. It's a term that most people understand simply out of context but probably don't quite comprehend the significance of right now. This little phrase is so important that most banks are more concerned about its impact on their books than they are about generating any new business. It's only a couple of words long, but the influence that it can have on a bank or hard money lender is expansive. The term we're talking about is: strategic default. 

What is strategic default? The Wikipedia definition is actually pretty good in this case. It states that...

Strategic default is the decision by a borrower to stop making payments (i.e., to default) on a debt despite having the financial ability to make the payments.This is particularly associated with residential and commercial mortgages, in which case it usually occurs after a substantial drop in the property's price such that the debt owed is (considerably) greater than the value of the property - the property has negative equity or is "underwater" - and is expected to remain so for the foreseeable future.

Great definition, right? But why do we care? Simple: any time a mortgage balance is higher than the value of the real estate that it's secured by the lender is at risk of a strategic default, and that risk exists regardless of how well qualified the borrower is. Over the last several years this country's banks have become the largest victims of strategic default from coast to coast. Thousands of borrowers that could have continued to make payments on their mortgages have walked away from property simply because it was easier to let the bank own it than continue to throw money at it. After all, many of these borrowers put very little money down when they purchased the property. Others were able to refinance and borrow back any money that they put into the property. So what do these borrowers have to lose? Usually nothing. Their properties have become money gobbling monsters, and they're tired of feeding them. But the monster doesn't go away just because it's not being fed by the borrower - it'll just eat someone else's lunch.  

Many private lenders have fallen victim to the same fate that hundreds of banks have. Their doors are now closed because they can't afford to feed all of the monsters that they've inherited from their borrowers. But, for those lenders that are doing business today it's crucial to understand what happened to all of the defunct lenders from the last several years in order to avoid making the same mistakes.

In a nutshell, lenders were at fault for lending too much money and not requiring enough security. For several years, most of the country forgot that real estate values don't always go up, especially at the rate that they were increasing. So, the second that the real estate marketplace took a turn it didn't take long before a large portion of property owners were faced with the obligation to make payments on loans that were secured by assets worth less than their debt. The solution at that point was simple - walk away. Unfortunately, this is still happening today and will continue to happen well into the future as some lenders continue to overextend credit.  

There are a few points to be made here:

1. Nothing in the loan underwriting process is more important than ensuring that you have good, solid collateral. No matter how much money a borrower makes every month, how well off he or she claims to be, or how big of an inheritance they're soon to receive a lender isn't going to see a dime of their money back if the borrower senses that their investment isn't worth it. Instead, the lender will have essentially purchased the property for about the amount that they loaned the borrower. It's just simple math.
2. Lending in 2011 is about quality, not quantity. Smart lenders may make fewer total loans than some other lenders, but they'll survive and thrive in these tough times. The loans that smart lenders will make will be of utmost quality. The other lenders out there may continue to extend far too much leverage on real estate while the potential for further market decline looms, but the smart lenders won't fall into the same trap. They know that if the market hits another bump in the road there will be three letters they'll be getting to know very well: R - E - O. 
3. Borrower quality is important, but not nearly as important as asset quality. Asset-based lenders exist for a reason: today's "quality loan" is properly secured, mitigating any prevailing market risk. Smart asset-based lenders sleep well at night knowing that tomorrow's headline isn't going to affect the safety of their investment. 

So how do hard money lenders handle strategic default? They don't make a loan that the borrower will ever be able to walk away from. If you're going to invest in mortgage loans in today's market, be sure that you're properly securing your investment, and if you're a borrower that's going to look for a hard money loan in today's market then be sure you understand what lenders are up against and what you're going to have to do to secure financing. These aren't easy times, but solutions do exist for both borrowers and investors that understand what we're up against. 

Strategic Default was a hot topic of conversation in the Scotsman Guide recently. Follow the links to the titles below to read the full articles and be sure to visit the MMG Capital Blog to drop your comments and questions, or just to let us know that you enjoyed the read.

Fannie-Mae: Strategic-default owners ineligible for new loan for 7 years

What does this tell us about the current state of the marketplace? Lenders that extended too much credit aren't the ones in control right now, their borrowers are. There's not much that a bank can do when a borrower walks away from a property and this seems to be Fannie's way of trying to punish those that are forcing them into such a tough position. Is it going to work? We'll see. It may entice some property owners to negotiate rather than simply jump up and leave, but we'll probably never know whether it was effective or not. The bottom line is that when a property goes "underwater," the lender's ability to control and enforce repayment starts to fly out the window. 

Stopping Strategic Defaults: Help halt a disturbing trend by offering good advice and emphasizing quality

This is a great article that was written for brokers but explains the philosophy behind strategic defaults and what's driving them. Whether brokers should really care or not is debatable, but this is a great resource for us as investors nonetheless. The author gives us a couple of great blurbs in this article stating that this is "one of the hottest trends in real estate" and that "more homeowners [are beginning to] think like corporations." Definitely worth the quick read.

The article that we want to share with you, our investors, is slightly outdated. Normally we wouldn't look at an article written for August 2010 and use it as a barometer for 2011. But, in this case, it just so happens that the information in this article really transcends the six months since it was written and even further than that. In the August 2010 issue of Financial Advisor Magazine, a publication that we subscribe to mostly just to see what sort of information clients with financial advisors are being fed, we found a very intriguing tidbit from columnist Andrew Gluck.

It's actually quite rare that we would share information from Financial Advisor Magazine because our investing philosophy is typically the antithesis to the types of things that are discussed in it, but in this case we found Gluck's take to be similar to ours and contradictory to the optimistic tone that you'll typically get from advisors. To sum up the article, some of the nation's top advisors (also known as those that have the most financial motivation to keep clients interested in investing in the market) give their take on where they believe our market [as a whole] is headed. One need not read past the title of the article to garner what type of conclusion they came to. Let's examine a few direct quotes from the article:

"We're ten years into a bear market that's likely to last another five or ten years."

"The best-case scenario is three to five years of malaise and mid-single-digit returns on stocks, but there is about a 20% chance of much worse."

"Stocks are likely to offer 6% to 9% annualized returns over the next five years but adds that any sudden unexpected shocks to the economy could easily derail the anemic recovery and cause another global tailspin."

So What Do We Do?

We want to make something very clear before we go any further: the reason that we share this with you isn't because we want to send your head spinning or get you so scared of what's to come that you go hide in the closet. While many top economic professionals aren't expecting anything great out of our economy for the next five years, they're also not expecting it to collapse like some have suggested it could (most of those prognoses carry vast contingencies and hypothetical hinges). The reason that we bring this to your attention is because even though the sky may not fall doesn't mean that you can't get hurt standing outside. There is definitely trouble ahead, and there's enough of it that those experts that would typically attempt to tell us otherwise are now changing their tune.

It's time to protect yourself. it's time to hunker down in conservative positions and cast risk off into the wind. Times like these can be a time of opportunity but they can also be a time of exceptional danger. History, in many respects, is irrelevant to what we're seeing today and this "return to basics" that we're experiencing is going to be a long journey. Be aware, invest safe and stay secure.  

(Click here to download a copy of the article)

                                                                                                     - Chris Gleason  |  Managing Director

Investors are taking notice of the success that MMG Capital clients have had (See: The Year in Review: How Did We Do?). Others are also starting to take notice of the logic in our strategies. As a result, MMG Capital is receiving some decent press to start off the new year. The cover of Real Estate Wealth Magazine, a publication dedicated to helping accredited investors grow their wealth with real estate, will be graced with a feature on MMG Capital and how private lending is helping investors across the country realize double-digit returns utilizing safe, secured investing techniques. 

MMG Capital's Managing Director, Chris Gleason, was interviewed in his home by Real Estate Wealth journalists and the result was a three-page feature story which you can access and read for free below. Should you like to have a hard copy of the magazine, simply give us a call and we'll be happy to send you one with our compliments.

We've come to realize that we were wrong when we assumed that all potential real estate investors wanted to be "house flippers" and "rental property owners." Now that they've seen that there's a better way to do things in this type of economy the response has been very positive. Private Lending and Secured Loans has changed investors entire outlook on what constitutes a "safe investment."

- Chris Gleason, Managing Director

Can't see the article above? Try the following links:

• Scribd
  
• Calameo
• DocStoc
• Slideshare
• ISSUU

Believe it or not, times are still changing. Fundamentals of the American economy are shifting dramatically and we're watching a number of preconceived notions about money and investing fly right out the window. The last two years have been especially eye-opening as we've watched hundreds of banks fail, thousands of homes go into foreclosure, stocks become worthless, and large institutions write down billions of dollars in toxic assets. But is there any reason to believe that 2011 is going to be any different? There will always be the hopefuls that say we've hit and bottom and we're destined to turn this thing around. I've even heard people saying that real estate is appreciating steadily where they are, which is likely wishful thinking at best.

2011 is going to be another banner year for change - so if your number one concern is to keep your money safe, what are you going to do with it? Our purpose today isn't to tell you what to do with it, but instead we want to give you a little primer for what is to come in 2011 and beyond. 60 Minutes recently covered a topic that we've been talking about for quite some time but is finally now starting to show up in mainstream media - the insurmountable debt that our federal and local governments have piled up. What's going to become of it? And how does it affect us as investors? If you missed this segment it's worth 10 minutes of your time to get a small dose of just one of the many economic issues facing our country today.

One of the things that investors are always most curious about is a company's investing track record. They want to know about average returns, what kinds of losses were taken, what kinds of gains were made, etc. The reason for wanting to know this type of information is simple, of course: investors want to know, based on recent history, how a company and its investments are likely to perform in the future. When it comes to investing in Secured Loans, these types of questions tend to come more from investors that are used to evaluating companies that operate mortgage pools or originate smaller loans in mass, and the reason is simple: these types of companies "Invest to Average Out." In other words, they rely on a certain quantity of positive performance to outweigh the statistically unavoidable presence of bad performance. To give an example, say a mortgage pool consisting of 100 loans has a 33% loss rate, the investment manager has to make sure that the other 67% of performing loans can make up for the losses and still provide a return.

MMG Capital does things differently - we don't invest in bulk and we don't "play the statistics." We make good loans that become solid investments for our clients. Our philosophy is as simple as that. We find the best deals that are available in the marketplace and those are the loans that we fund. The downside to the strategy?... we have less loan inventory for our investors to choose from. However, when you take a look at how our portolfio has performed since we opened our doors in 2007 you can see that it's not much of a downside at all:

We take the business of protecting our investors' capital very seriously and our track record is evidence of just that. We won't provide our investors with an opportunity to invest in a loan that we believe has a chance to fail. If you're looking for a safe place to put your capital in today's marketplace without sacrificing the ability to earn a decent return, MMG Capital Secured Investment Opportunities are certainly a good solution for you.

MMG Capital would like to thank all of our existing investors for their continued support and for the opportunity to share in their success. 2010 was a great year for MMG Capital Investors and we look forward to making 2011 much of the same.

Of all the talk about markets, cycles, defaults, takeovers and swings there's one word that gets lost among it all - deflation. Are you prepared the possibility that our economy may enter a deflationary period? A recent article in the Wall Street Journal highlighted some of the more popular investments during deflationary economies and exactly why investors are attracted to them. Among the asset classes reviewed are:

• Stocks
• Bonds
• Cash
• Hard Assets
• Debt (as a liability as opposed to an asset)

What's the conclusion these authors came to? They decided that stocks are out, bonds are ok but the competition for high grade bonds all but eliminates their profit margin, cash is king, hard assets will fall except for gold, and it's bad to be in debt. We couldn't agree more that stocks are out. There are actually very few, if any at all, economic cycles where we think stocks are a good long or short-term option (more on that in a later article). Bonds can be good investments but in an economy like this even top bond managers are having difficulty reaping any real yields for their investors. Cash is king, but it doesn't do any good sitting under your pillow. Hard assets definitely will fall and there will certainly be more demand for gold, but what it's price will do is uncertain. Bad debt is always bad and good debt (that which reaps profits or increasing returns) wil definitely cost a bit more.

This analysis, of course, is all dependant on whether you believe the economic forces that are currently at work within our country and within the world as a whole are actually going to cause deflation. Many experts believe that inflationary pressures are going to outweigh deflationary pressures to the point that we won't actually feel the effects of deflation the way that we would normally expect to. The devaluation of the dollar and the measures that could be taken to offset it by our own government as well as the governments of countries that are heavily invested in the dollar may make it all a moot point. Nobody has a crystal ball, but it's worth being aware that deflation could be in our future. In fact, it could be here now. Are you prepared?

Click here for a link to the article

MMG Capital was recently featured in online and print publication Real Estate Wealth, a publication dedicated to serving the needs of accredited investors seeking to grow and maintain their wealth. Managing Director Chris Gleason sat down with Lori Peebles for an interview about the firms lending practices as well as its investing strategies that have been so successful over the past several years. Follow the links below to read the article or link to the entire free publication.

Click Here to Download a PDF Copy of the Article

MMG Capital is proud to announce that Linda Jalenak and Jalenak Accounting Services have joined the MMG Capital team to oversee internal accounting and reporting. Linda is a CPA with over 20 years of accounting experience and a Masters in Professional Accountancy (MPA). She has provided accounting services to firms in a variety of industries and is now going to be able to add private lending to her list. She is extremely adept at all accounting functions and will be charged with overseeing annual bookkeeping, as well as loan servicing and internal auditing. Linda, along with Chris Gleason, will share the responsibility of being a liason to investors, regulators and vendors that require information of an accounting nature from the firm.

We welcome Linda to the family and look forward to our relationship expanding with the growth of the company.

In the July issue of Private Lender, the publication of the American Association of Private Lenders (AAPL), there was an article that caught my attention. It's an interview with Todd Pigott, the owner of a company called Zinc Financial. According to the article, Zinc Financial is a company that specializes in investor rehab loans, similar to the well-known Brookview Financial. The reason for our article is to bring attention to some very interesting points that Mr. Pigott makes in his commentary and to point out some very distinct differences in the lending philosophy of a company like Zinc Financial as compared to our own here at MMG Capital. Click the icon to the right to download a copy of the article for review.

 Here is a simple list of points to find in the article as you read through it:

1. Credit-based Lending vs. Asset-based Lending
2. Hard Money has Changed
3. Some Flaws in the Logic

A lot of people don't understand the difference between credit-based lending and asset-based lending. But, quite frankly, they're extremely dissimilar and are almost opposite philosophies when it comes to underwriting a loan. Todd states, "We finance distressed assets, not distressed borrowers." In other words, Zinc Financial makes loans based on the credit and income of the borrowers that they lend to. However, the assets they're utilizing as collateral are "distressed." In the case of investor rehab loans, that will almost always mean physically distressed as well as financially distressed. MMG Capital, on the other hand, finances distressed or undistressed borrowers that have undistressed assets - we underwrite our collateral first before we underwrite our borrower. A borrower being distressed won't disqualify them automatically. We have to look at why they're distressed and whether or not they have a strategy to get themself out of trouble or not.

The difference between these two philosophies is central to the entire theme of successful private lending. While we don't refute that Zinc Financial has found a niche and could potentially be successful in credit-based private lending, our philosophy is entirely different and we believe that our standards are the absolute safest in today's marketplace. On at least a few counts, we differ on both reasoning and logic. Here's how:...

Banks are credit-based lenders. They lend very strictly on the qualifications of borrowers and more loosely on the strength of their collateral. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and in fact, it's critical to our economy that banks lend this way. However, the past few years have shown us what happens when real estate markets are trending downwards: borrowers, both good and bad, find themselves with assets that aren't worth what they've borrowed against them and are more than happy to hand them over to the lender and wish them good luck. In the case of a good borrrower purposely defaulting on a loan, we use the term "strategic default" - and it happens all the time. If you lend too much money against a bad asset, chances are that you just bought it for more than it's worth. What good does it do to have a borrower with an 800 credit score if you've lent them too much money against their property? Will you be happy owning a junker property for $100,000? That's the question that you have to ask before you decide to lend to a good borrower with a bad asset. And remember, a credit score isn't' security - a credit score is a measure of probability based on past events. It doesn't give any assurance as to the safety of your investment in the future. Only collateral provides real security. The day that you assume that your borrower is going to repay you and therefore you don't have to worry about your collateral is the same day that you should reconsider being a private money lender.

MMG Capital makes asset-based loans, with credit and the ability to repay considered, secured by valuable real estate that is in high demand at an average of 20 - 30% of fair market value. We provide high net worth borrowers with liquidity as opposed to leverage. So, with that knowledge, I ask you this question: with which borrower are you more likely to be in trouble. The borrower with an 800 credit score that you've lent 80% of the property's value to? Or the borrower with a 650 credit score that you've lent 30% of the property's value to? In other words, which one is going to be more concerned with getting their loan repaid? Who has more to lose?

One thing that Zinc and MMG certainly agree on is the fact that hard money lending has definitely changed. Most firms have chosen to adopt the title of "private money lender" as opposed to "hard money lender" because the old definition of hard money is no longer accurate. Pigott states that "it is difficult today to find a hard money lender that is not going to somewhat entertain credit, somewhat entertain capacity to repay..." 2005 has come and gone, and lenders aren't just handing out money nowadays. If you want to borrow from a private lender, you're going to have to prove that you deserve the loan. Some qualification factors are going to weigh more heavily than others, but the amount of due diligence and the process that lenders have to go through to ensure that they have good collateral and a real borrower is far more extensive than it used to be. And the term "hard money" no longer means that you can borrower 65% LTV against just about any asset as long as you can provide an appraisal. The rules are changing, as are the players, so borrowers had best get used to it.

This past week MMG Capital has become one of the newest members of Manta, "the largest free source of information on small companies, helping business professionals promote their business, sell faster and make business connections." And although Manta is touted as a resource for business, it actually shapes up to be one of the largest and most comprehensive databases that consumers can use to gather information on small businesses. Currently, Manta claims to hold information for over 63 million small businesses worldwide. Some of the information that you can find listed on Manta include:

• Contact Information
• Website Information
• Associations and Memberships
• Similar Companies
• Company Contacts
• Employee Listings
• Social Media Widgets and Links

Take a moment to browse the MMG Capital Manta listing by clicking the medallion below, and if you have time - create one for your small business!