A couple of new real estate trainers (we’ll call them "The List Peddler") stumbled onto a list that is generated and updated monthly by state with the names and addresses of private lenders that have loaned money in the previous 30 days.

That sounds real appealing doesn’t it?

Sounds easy and simple.

Get a list of fresh hot private lenders that live in your state, market the heck out of them and hopefully find someone to loan you money.

At least that is what The List Peddler led you to believe.

BUYERS BEWARE!!! The List Peddlers are gone with your hard earned $$ but aren’t giving you all the facts to keep you safe.

So is selling the list a bad thing?

Heck no. It is great. What is BAD, very bad, is that you, the student, don’t get the facts from the List Peddler to protect yourself. You are not told the other side of the story & frankly the most important part that you MUST be in compliance with the SEC.

You see the real value is not in this list of strangers. The real value is this…

1. Keeping you safe by understanding and providing you with the LAW.

2. Tools and training so you can be a private lender magnet. I.e. attract private lenders at will because you are professionally trained.

Question: What if your list source dries up and you can’t get a new list? Well the answer is you need to be a trained magnet on finding private lenders.

Look, new doesn’t mean better. Some of these List Peddlers weren’t teaching private lending 2 years ago and just because they are now good with social media and internet marketing doesn’t make them better. It just makes them internet savvy to get your bucks. Make sure they have the experience, ethics and the SEC research to deliver the goods. I.e. the WHOLE PICTURE to keep you safe.

Now let me tell you a little known secret…

• They pony up by spending the big bucks for an SEC attorney to research EACH STATE and Canada, talk to SEC regulators in many of the states to get to the source.

• It’s an ongoing process once you step up to the commitment.

The List Peddlers gloss over the important stuff. The List Peddler never broached the topic of the SEC. What is wrong with that picture?

One of the List Peddlers told a student they don’t need to file with the SEC to use the list. WRONG!!!

Their lack of ethics can cause a ripple effect. For example, my brother is a Chiropractor. He said in his business he finds that if someone has a bad experience with a poor Chiropractor it turns them off on the benefits of all Chiropractors. Using the same logic with The List Peddlers, if someone uses the list illegally then it might turn them off on the power and potential of using private lenders. I understand the logic but I hate what these List Peddlers could be doing to our real estate businesses and, more specifically, unsuspecting real estate investors.

I tell you this to impress upon you that "Buyer Beware" has never been more important to a real estate investor that this current unsafe issue in our business that is being created by the List Peddlers.

Alan Cowgill