How I Manage Properties And My Private Lendersby Alan Cowgill

I want you to create a mental picture of my office. Imagine two conveyer belts coming through. On one conveyer belt is houses and on the other conveyer belt are my private lenders. 

As the private lending conveyer belt comes through the office, my staff and I are matching the private lenders to certain properties. Occasionally, lenders will stop in the office and they’re so eager to lend funds that they offer us a check. We never ever take the check. Don’t touch unsecured money. The money goes to closing agent. If they’re willing to wait until the house sells they receive X percent. 

We use a couple of reports that track our available private lender funds. We have a closing listing which lists all the closings that are scheduled or pending. That’s one conveyor belt. 

Remember that the other belt are the lenders. How many lenders are lined up? We figure that out and we put them in order. I also have a little place on there for people who showed interest in being a lender but haven’t committed yet. 

I keep the list of those who have shown interest handy. If I ever need to go back and follow up with them, I have their name and number in front of me. We have a list of current lenders and properties. We track the amount of money on each property and then a total, so just common sense reports.

Let’s say a lender wants their money back. Rather than having to move heaven and earth to figure out what property they’re on, it’s all in one well organized system. This makes their life and mine very easy. 

This system has their name and it has every property that they’re on. We distinguish whether its cash or IRA money. That’s necessary to know because the IRA folks don’t need those monthly payments. Also, the IRA transaction will have a longer turnaround. If you have to move quickly, you have to make sure that you have the adequate time allowed to make this happen. 

We even color code these files for quick visual reference. We verify their intent to lend and when we sell a property make immediate follow-up to make sure that they’re willing to loan again. They are always sure because it’s a great thing for them. 

Here’s an example of how our system is set up, let’s say Aretha Franklin has money on two properties. On our reports this is listed as 803F and 402WS. Those codes are the number on the house and the street name. So 803F is 803 First Street and 402 WS is 402 West State Street. So by doing that we can quickly see where her money is. If she has questions or wants to drop out, which is very rare, we have easy access to her information. We can quickly give her the r-e-s-p-e-c-t she wants to have in this deal. 

So, my two conveyor belts are apparent. At the top are the properties and at the bottom are the lenders. We are in the middle, matching them up. 

It’s a plan that you should put together on your business. Will You?

To Your Wealth. 




Alan CowgillAlan Cowgill is the owner of Colby Properties, LLC. and President of Integrity Home Buyers, Inc. Alan is a full-time Real Estate Investor, investing in single family and small multi-family properties in Springfield, Ohio.

Since 1995, Alan has bought and sold over 200 investment properties. Alan uses Private Lenders, not banks; to fund his real estate purchases. By doing this, he has created his own private bank of $2,000,000 in funds. Alan looks for "Win - Win" situations, where the seller, the lender, and the eventual homeowner can all "Win". He is not a Realtor, but a Private Investor.

Alan has served as an elected official to the Board of Directors for the Clark County Property Management Association. He is an author, consultant and national speaker. He has been asked to speak on the topics of “Investing for the Beginning Investor.” and “Finding Private Lenders.” His home study system, “Private Lending Made Easy”, shows new and seasoned real estate investors how to find private lenders for their own real estate business.

In addition, Alan:
• Holds a BS Degree in Business Management.
• Has over a quarter century experience in Business Management.
• Is a published author not only for Real Estate but also in American Industry.
• Featured in the Business Section of the Springfield News-Sun newspaper in May, 2001. Article on real estate investing in Springfield, Ohio.
• Adjunct Professor for 5 years at Clark State University.
• Acknowledged in the book “e-Mail Basics” ISBN #0-9676313-1-9.
• Speaking Engagements include: Yovel, England; Dallas, Texas; Fort Collins, Colorado; Atlanta, Ga.; Jacksonville, Florida; Cashiers, SC.; Las Vegas, Nevada and Springfield, Ohio.
• Business trainer and consultant.
• Member of the Springfield Chamber of Commerce and Better Business Bureau.
• Appeared on a twenty-eight minute real estate infomercial that is shown nationwide.

And best of all, Alan Cowgill is married and the father of three children.