Note as Collateral: Sunday Morning Thoughts 10 February 2013

It’s no surprise that a note is collateral for its face value.  When considering becoming a private lender one would wonder do they have to wait for the maturity date of the loan agreement to receive a return on investment?  The short answer, no.

For arguments sake, let’s say you are a private lender who has a note with a face value of $100,000.  Granted you cannot use the note as if it was an ATM, but you can put it to more use than just sitting and waiting for the maturity date of the loan agreement to realize a return on investment.  A note can be used as collateral to purchase something else or you can sell the loan at face value or at a discount, or even option a portion of the note to someone else.

If you think that you do not have the right to sell the note, take a look at lending papers from large institutions, in the fine print, they have a clause with the equivalent of ‘and or assigns’, which gives them the right to resell your contract to another entity.

With the $100,000 note in hand you can borrow against the note to lend again, for a lessor amount but the note is an instrument of collateral.  Collateral is defined as:

a : of, relating to, or being collateral used as security (as for payment of a debt or performance of a contract)

b : secured by collateral.

Many private lenders resell their notes at a discount once the loan has matured.  A note is considered matured when it is at least 3 to 6 months old.  Often times, the investor, the lender has created a note for, will refinance the project with conventional lending after the maturity of the loan to pay off the private lender.

But what if the investor defaults on the loan payment?  Then the private lender can sell the note as a non-performing asset or do a foreclosure, whichever suits the lenders preference for a return on investment.

A private lender may also hold a first and a second on a property, but may only wish to sell either the first or second position.  The choice is that of the lender.  Many banking institutions can lose money in the second position, mainly due to not monitoring the payments of the borrower.  A borrower, when financial trouble hits will almost always default on the second mortgage payments long before they allow the first mortgage to default.

The second position is not necessarily a losing position.  If a borrower were to default on the second loan, the second can start a foreclosure and once the foreclosure is complete begin making payments to the first.

This is only an overview of what a private lender can do with a note, other than waiting for the maturity date to realize a return on investment.  Thinking outside of a conventional box may prove to be more profitable.  Conventional thought is to wait for maturity, the unconventional is to sell part or all interest in the note, use the note as collateral, or option the note.  Just remember consult with an attorney for the legal uses of a note before making a final decision.

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The Re-Evaluation of Money and Mortgages: Sunday Morning Thoughts 24 October 2010

Image by Toban Black via Flickr

President Obama recently asked the Bank of China to reevaluate the Yuan to raise its value.  This would help make the dollar weaker against China’s Yuan, making it easier for America to compete in the world of exporting.  The hope of this strategy is to help keep jobs in the United States instead making it more cost-effective to manufacture abroad.

Sounds good in theory.

If China were to reevaluate the Yuan to a higher value, then manufacturers would probably reevaluate the use of China as one of the many low-cost manufacturing places.  With China’s current booming economy the next back up for manufacturing has been Indonesia and Vietnam.  Companies such as Nike have already moved the bulk of their manufacturing to these countries.

So even if the Yuan were reevaluated to a higher value, this would not necessarily return manufacturing jobs to the U.S.  The cost to manufacture in America would out weigh the product, making it more expensive and harder to afford.

With the reevaluation of money in world markets, one would begin to think of the reevaluation of our current banking system.  The New Reform is slowly taking place colliding with the halting of foreclosure due to paperwork problems.  The process of foreclosure is not halting, but proceeding in court has halted to make certain all paperwork is in order.

Re-evaluating properties in foreclosure has now become more of a problem for the banks, which they did anticipate.  The investors in notes, mortgages secured by property, are now clamoring for a refund.  This is very understandable since they were promised good notes, and not bad notes.

Investing in a good note is the amount you will pay for a note that will later mature and generate passive income.  A bad note is also a good investment but from a different stand point.  An investor would not pay as much for a potentially non-producing note (bad note), when compared to a producing note, (good note).

Law suits are to be expected for the fraudulent selling of notes.  The lawsuits will more than likely make mortgage policy stricter and bolster the use of the New Banking Reform watch dogs.

So, how can an Investor profit from all this Bad News?

Well, opportunity is knocking, purchasing non-producing notes at a deep discount and acquiring the property for resale.  Purchasing producing notes, at a deep discount because other investors might not want to deal with the banking issues to come; and then profiting from the passive income generated by the note.