Private Lending Explained: Fast, Flexible, and Trustworthy

Ryan McGuinness (00:00)

So when they come to us, we just try to expedite that process and make it as easy as possible without any hiccups on the lending side.

Erika (01:39)

Hey everyone, welcome to the Real Estate Pro Show. I’m your host, Erika, and today I’m thrilled to be joined by Ryan McGuinness of RPM Realty Investments. His company is shaking things up in the lending space. Ryan, it’s awesome to have you here.

Ryan McGuinness (01:55)

Thanks for having me on, I appreciate it.

Erika (01:58)

So let’s dive on in. For those who don’t know your story, Ryan, give us the rundown. How did you get started in the real estate world?

Ryan McGuinness (02:06)

So I started ⁓ just after the last recession, 2009-ish, I saw a lot of value in real estate at the time. And I started buying houses with a friend and we were doing a lot of flips and then went into construction and development and then ultimately landed in private lending for about the last decade.

Erika (02:27)

Yeah, yeah, was there, you know, was there something going on with flipping that, you know, made you want to switch to lending?

Ryan McGuinness (02:35)

Anybody that is currently flipping or has, know, they know it’s a lot of headache, right? There’s a lot of uncertains that can always happen. More than needing to exit flipping, which was going well, I really saw a need for a private lender, somebody that really followed through with their promises and gave instant service. So I kind of filled that need for my group and we’ve expanded from there over the last, you know, more than a decade now.

Erika (03:02)

Yeah, that’s exciting. ⁓ What’s the main focus? there certain kinds of projects that you’re more likely to fund than others?

Ryan McGuinness (03:12)

Sure, so we we lend on all asset classes in real estate. Really, it’s all about the borrower’s down payment. So that’s the only qualifier for us. So conventional lending, as you’re aware, credit score, debt to income, bank statements, tax returns, everything, including maybe a blood sample across to get qualified. our only thing is loan to value. The maximum we land is 70 % LTV. So the borrower would have to put down a minimum of 30%, possibly more depending on the project.

that’s our only qualifier. So we’re able to qualify a deal and fully approve it, usually within an hour, and then we can fund as fast as needed, know, any day they want.

Erika (03:51)

That’s exciting. Is there a particular type of deal, Ryan, that gets you most excited right now?

Ryan McGuinness (03:58)

Really, it’s the deal that excites our borrowers, right? We’re there for them. They’re the ones finding the deal. They’re the ones sourcing the deal.

Erika (04:05)

Yeah. So you, you told me earlier before we started recording that I you’re in Tampa Bay’s fast 50 growing companies, which is so awesome. What’s the Tampa market like for you and are you operating other markets as well?

Ryan McGuinness (04:22)

So the Tampa market was historically going back to last five or more years, very, very strong. Just like everywhere else right now in the last year or so, things are slowing down. More of a flat market. I don’t think there’s any bottom falling out of the market. We do service, most, they’re all Florida and a lot of Southeast States and some other states throughout the country. But the Southeast is our focus.

Erika (04:47)

Yeah, that’s great. How do you adapt your lending strategies to different markets?

Ryan McGuinness (04:53)

So we know the Tampa market. We know most of Florida. If somebody calls me and they want a deal in Baltimore, some area that I’m not very familiar with, we’re just a little bit more conservative with that deal. So we might lower our loan to value, lower the amount that we’re willing to loan in that deal, just because we don’t have the boots on the ground there. We don’t understand that market street by street like we would Tampa.

Erika (05:14)

Yeah, yeah. So tell us more about your lending partner program, because it sounds really interesting and might set you apart from other lenders out there.

Ryan McGuinness (06:12)

Yeah, so all of our capital is completely private, right? We don’t use any bank money. We don’t use any institutional money. That allows us to work at a speed that’s unmatched, ⁓ There’s no checks or balances on our side for the capital to our borrowers. So with that said, ⁓ as we’ve expanded, we’ve taken on private lending partners, and we basically take a servicing fee, and we net them a very high yield. ⁓

return backed by a first leave position mortgage. So it’s a very safe way where people can invest in real estate without having the ins and outs of flipping a house and still making a very high yield return.

Erika (06:48)

Yeah, that’s awesome. What’s the most rewarding part of helping investors grow their wealth?

Ryan McGuinness (06:54)

I think… ⁓

on both sides of it, a borrower seeing them closing that deal that they were potentially going to lose the deal or lose their deposit when another lender or financial institution wasn’t able to close. And then on the flip side, somebody who doesn’t necessarily have a ton of money, but they get involved with us and they see that passive income come to them every month. They’re still working their regular job. They’re still doing whatever they’re doing, but every month they’re receiving a distribution from us and they’re able to see that income come in steadily.

Erika (07:26)

Yeah, yeah, that’s awesome. So as I’m sure you know, and maybe you want to go back to your flipping days, it’s it’s up to you. But every operator has a story where things got rough, maybe a deal went sideways, or you had to make a tough call about, you know, a project that you were working on, or you know, maybe something going on with lending. Ryan, can you share one of those moments and what you learned from it?

Ryan McGuinness (07:50)

I mean, there’s always deals that didn’t go as intended for the borrower. Unlike a conventional bank or a lot of other lenders, we’re not the guys that just say, okay, we’re going straight to a foreclosure, we’re going to default scenario. We really try to work out with them. So sometimes that takes up our time and we have to our hands dirty, go to a site and see what’s going on and work through that with our borrower to get them a successful exit instead of just saying, all right, we’re gonna foreclose on it and see what happens.

Erika (08:20)

yeah. Ryan, for someone looking to level up their real estate game, what kind of advice would you give to someone looking for finding a lending partner that they can trust?

Ryan McGuinness (08:32)

So there is a lot of, I don’t want to say bad lenders, but a lot of under-capitalized lenders, there’s two sides that usually happen. You either have a conventional lender that has the capital, right? They’re a huge company, have millions or billions of dollars to lend, but they make it so tedious to get qualified with them. Then on the flip side, if you have a good relationship with a private lender, a lot of times they’re capped at hundreds of thousands or low millions of dollars in total lending, because it’s their own private money. So unfortunately, you have a good relationship with them and they like you as well.

It’s a two-way street, but all of sudden you find a great million dollar deal and they’re just unable to fund it. So we try to give the best-case scenario there of having the capital, but also giving that ⁓ home feel to get these deals done. So it’s important to do that because if you don’t have the capital for your deal, you can find a great deal, but it doesn’t really matter at that point.

Erika (09:23)

Yeah, absolutely. Do you have any other advice? Like are there, you know, maybe red flags investors should watch out for when they’re, you know, going with a lender?

Ryan McGuinness (09:33)

You want to just make sure that they have a reputation and a track record. There’s a lot of fly by night people. There is some fraud out there too. We have seen it a few times where people are just trying to collect an upfront fee. We never charge any fee until the day that we close. But there’s a lot of people that will take a few thousand dollar ⁓ application or upfront fee and never intend to close it. And they’re just going to drag you on, drag you on, say, we’re closing next week until finally you get frustrated. And then you have to try to recoup that cash that you

You’re out.

Erika (10:40)

Yeah, absolutely. So Ryan, with building the business that you have at the size that it’s at, it’s no small feat. What’s been the biggest driver in growing to that level?

Ryan McGuinness (10:52)

Just performing 100 % of the time, if all of a sudden we didn’t close on time, that borrower is gonna tell everybody, right? And there’s a lot of that out there. ⁓ I can confidently say that we’ve done more than 1,000 deals, probably closer to 1,200 deals, and we have closed on time every time without exception. And if we commit to a deal, the terms are never gonna change, ⁓ the rate’s never gonna change. Whatever I say day one is gonna be the same exact thing at the closing as well.

Erika (11:20)

Has there been like a specific strategy or mindset that’s helped you achieve that that you know excellent follow-through no matter what?

Ryan McGuinness (11:28)

I think it’s just the way I was raised and brought up and how I’ve done business. That’s just something that I have always done. If you know me personally, ⁓ people would attest to that. I just do what I say 100 % of the time without exception. That’s just how I work.

Erika (11:43)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So looking ahead, Ryan, what do you see going on with your business? What vision do you have in mind?

Ryan McGuinness (11:52)

Just keep expanding it, right? ⁓ We’ve been fortunate to have great trajectory. And I think by providing great customer service for our clients, they’re going to keep coming back and keep referring their friends and family like we have been seeing. So just keep that trajectory. And even if the market slows down, we’re still seeing a lot of business as conventional banks tighten up or maybe do away with programs that they previously had or scale back on different programs. People still need to get deals done and a private lender like

myself is exactly who can do it.

Erika (12:25)

Yeah,

that’s awesome. Are you planning on expanding the new markets if that change is coming more and more?

Ryan McGuinness (12:31)

So, you know, we just have organic growth. So we go wherever the deal flow takes us, right? We don’t advertise. We’re all word of mouth and referral based. So as people refer us to new markets, then we’ll be happy to lend there. But we aren’t necessarily putting a physical footprint in new markets.

Erika (12:48)

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, Ryan, before I let you go, if someone’s listening and they want to connect with you, maybe they need some help with funding. What’s the best way for them to reach you?

Ryan McGuinness (13:00)

Sure, they can go on our website which is rpmrealityinv.com or instagram at rpmrealityinv ⁓ or they can reach out via phone at 352-262-3722.

Erika (13:18)

Awesome. I love how you and your team are all about keeping your word and delivering for your clients. Thanks so much for being on the show.

Ryan McGuinness (13:25)

Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you.

Erika (13:27)

And for our listeners, if you got value from this episode, make sure that you’re subscribed to the Real Estate Pro Show. We’ve got more conversations coming up with powerhouses in the real estate world who are building incredible businesses. We’ll see you on the next episode.