HML #19 Closed

I mentioned last time that one of my loans had lasted the full one year term. That is fairly unusual, not just for hard money loans in general, but particularly for this borrower. He typically fixes and flips properties in 6 months or less. It turns out that he decided to keep this particular property as a rental property. He must be making some good money off of it because he was paying us 12% on our loan, which is rather high. The loan was due at the end of August and he finally refinanced and has paid us off. My partner is looking for another loan to invest in.

July Update

The July figures from the apartment complex look good. Overall, they've dropped a bit from June, but not significantly. June was the sixth consecutive month of increasing total income, so I expected that to end sooner or later. Total income for July dropped by $4,000 and occupancy dipped to 90%. Offsetting the lower income were lower payroll and utility payments, so we had a net gain in monthly profit. However, the property overall was above break-even, which is a first for this year and, if I recall, the first for maybe 1 or 2 years. Good news indeed.

My four hard money loans continue to pay on time. Several other loans my partner has have closed recently and I expect some, if not all, of my loans to be closed soon. Three of them aren't approaching their 1 year due date, but based on past experience with the borrower, the properties are probably up for sale or in escrow right now. One of my loans has actually gone the full 1 year term - something that rarely happens. This note was due this month. Haven't heard any word on a payoff yet though.

Hard Money Loan #19 Started

My loan #16 was paid off last week, so my partner was on the lookout for a new loan to make. He found one almost immediately. This new property was bought at auction by one of our regular borrowers. He was the only bidder. He got the place for about $63,000. My partner estimates current value to be about $95,000 and after repaired value to be $120,000. Our loan is for $42,000, giving us a LTV of 44% based on current value and 35% at repaired value. The borrower, again, one of our best borrowers, is personally guaranteeing the loan. My partner was willing to fund this one with all of his own money, but since I had some on hold, he gave it to me. His mother also has a small share of the loan.

The property was a rental and has an unfriendly tenant that might need to be evicted. The area isn't the best, but it's not the worst either. It is near a freeway however, so that's a drawback. The house is a 4 bedroom, 2 bath built in 1912. The interior condition appears to be average with some updating needed. The exterior paint is peeling and the siding may need some work. Again, the location isn't the best, but the exceptionally low LTV makes this a loan I am comfortable doing.

I'm referring to this one as Hard Money Loan #19.

I also got some good news from the Houston apartment complex. July occupancy averaged 93% and turnover declined to just 23 units. These two factors increased monthly revenue by about $13,000 and gave the property its highest monthly revenue figure of the year. Rent concessions also declined.

While that was good news, the bad news was the property was still in a negative cash flow situation for the month. This was due to a couple of factors. As mentioned previously, our mortgage has now switched from interest only payments to interest and principal, meaning our mortgage increased by about $8,000 a month. The hot summer months have also caused the utility payments to be higher than normal. As we enter into the fall and winter months and utility bills decline, the higher revenue should easily offset the higher mortgage payment. On a year to date basis, we are still actually about $115,000 over budget.