Private Lending Strategies to Build Wealth in 2025

Angel L Báez, Jr. (00:00)
Mind you, this is 72 hours before closing. That we end up finding out the judgments are not resolved.
We ended up getting the clear to close 24 hours before closing and we were able to close the transaction with the client not having to come out of pocket and an additional 12 grand of their own money. And they were able to use the program that assist them to not only get solar panels, but also get the money as income earn as a 1099 income for them to use towards paying off debt. That’s the type of solution we come up with.

Quentin (01:59)
everyone. Welcome to the Investor Fuel Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds. And listen, man, I am excited about today. Y’all don’t need to know everything, but me and this gentleman, just know that me and this gentleman have been diligent about making sure that we bring you this content. All right? I ain’t gonna tell y’all all the things we ran into, but please know that you have two guys here that’s not giving up to make sure that we bring y’all this good content.

Angel L Báez, Jr. (02:19)
So.

Quentin (02:27)
You know what I’m saying? So I’m excited today to bring to you my guest who’s making some major moves within private lending. Man, I mean, these guys are just doing it the right way. And I just can’t wait for you to hear from him, what he’s doing. He may not give you all the secrets to his sauce, but he’s going to give you enough to get your fat wet. All right? And so listen, man, I want to introduce you guys to my friend, Mr. Baez.

Mr. Baez how you doing today,

Angel L Báez, Jr. (02:54)
I’m doing fantastic, Great to be part of your enthusiasm this morning. Get excited, get going. So excited to have our conversation today.

Quentin (03:02)
Absolutely, man. So listen, I’m excited for my listeners to just hear what you got going, man. We’ve been talking a little bit backstage. And so I just really, man, want to dive in so they hear.

from your mouth some of the things that you’re building. And so first off, if people, may not be familiar with who you are, and I would just love for you to give us a little short version of what it is, what’s your main focus these days. And if you don’t mind telling us what markets are you operating in.

Angel L Báez, Jr. (03:32)
Definitely, definitely. So little bit about myself. I got into the mortgage real estate lending world back in 2001. And I kind of grew throughout the financial industry, different lenders, different providers in the industry have worked my way through over the last 20 years to be where I am today. And one of the main things that we focus on really is providing products and funding for investors.

that most lenders don’t have, right? So that’s one of our areas of specialty is really just finding a source that can provide the funding that investors need. One of the main problems we have right now, and you’ll see this all over social media, you’ll see it in the news, is that we still have a housing shortage on the basis of households formed each year. So we’re still behind in lagging in homes needed for the everyday consumer. So.

investors, there’s a lot of general contractors, a lot of investors out there, trying to find solutions to get them the funding they need, or possibly get them started in the construction world on building their first investment property and then basically building a portfolio of that product. Some of them is for retention, right? They’re looking to get financing to build and to keep as a rental property. Some of them it’s to build to sell. And what we do is we facilitate the products to get them there.

and to do it efficiently and where they’re profitable. The main thing with that is also this opens an opportunity for some GCs that are doing maybe just some renovation work to really get into the construction world and allow them to build to a point where now we can help them find the financing to build out communities. So it’s really a growth opportunity that developers and builders have with partnering with Revolution Mortgage. have financing products that can assist them to get there.

The other exciting thing that we have going on right now is for consumers, have down payment assistance programs that are national programs. Some of these programs, they’re not even down payment assistance, they’re income earned assistance. So you don’t have to pay that back to help you get into the home. And it’s available through the FHA product. So we’re just finding solutions for consumers to achieve their ultimate goal in real estate and in financing.

That’s really our area of specialty. In my 20 years of doing this, I do commercial, I do construction, I do SBA lending. We provide all kinds of financing for clients, what they’re looking to do and help them build their wealth and build their book of business, right? To help them get where they’re trying to get in this industry. The last piece that we’re really kicking butt with right now in the industry overall is with realtors, right? Realtors that have teams, that are producers, that are Zillow flux agents.

They’re out there generating massive amounts of volume and brokerages. We have ways to help them generate additional income leading into six figures, sometimes even to seven figures for them. And it’s something that we can share on a one by one basis based on their production, based on their average loan sizes, how we can help them generate more revenue for their business, especially with the regulation changes that have happened with real estate commissions. This is the new wave. If you’re not jumping on this,

you’re going to miss out over the next couple years. I highly recommend contacting us for these type of

Quentin (07:29)
Man, that’s what I’m talking about, bro. Y’all, I mean, y’all have a lot going on. mean, y’all helping people. Listen, if you want to build to keep, or you want to build to sell, we got you. We’re helping general contractors as looking to build communities, we got you. Listen, we can help you with down payment assistance, we got you. And then we’re helping realtors that are having like this, like these realtors that have teams and want to generate real income.

We can help you there, we got you. You know, you guys are doing an amazing thing and it’s not always easy to do all these things in this climate where things are going on, where the market is right now. So listen, I mean, actually, Mr. Andrew, like, what’s been the key to keeping that machine running smoothly, man?

Angel L Báez, Jr. (08:07)
Correct.

Well, honestly, I’d say for us, it’s just adding the right team members, right? We are constantly interviewing team members, bringing on seasoned Loan Originators. And then we also have a new Loan Originator program where we’re partnering you up basically almost like not to not to give credit to a movie or anything, but let’s say, you know, like Star Wars, right? You have a pad of one and then you have, know, you’ve got the leader, right? So.

We partner you up with a seasoned originator that knows how to close and knows how to do business. And we give that tutelage to that newer person so that a year into this, they’re masters of their craft, right? They no longer need to come to the Jedi for the most part, right? For instruction or guidance. So we’re just hiring the right people and we’re expanding into multiple states. We’re adding more team members. And really our goal is for people that work with us.

You know, you’re coming to me and saying, hey, I closed two deals a month. I’m saying, okay, I’m going to help you get to 10 deals a month. And that’s really kind of our focus with our recruiting team and with our marketing team is we’re really just finding ways to generate additional business for people that join us and join the not to, you know, point at the shirt, but to join the revolution of what we’re doing out there in the industry. Right. So the focus is just growth, growth, growth. Right. And

Quentin (09:22)
Come on. Yes, sir.

Absolutely.

Angel L Báez, Jr. (09:29)
You

know that that’s our vision. That’s what we’re trying to do. And we’re not about just one time transactions. We’re building legacy clients that keep coming back because they know we take care of them. They know we don’t. We’re not here to gouge or take the most we can on a transaction. We’re to build a brand that’s going to succeed in today’s market.

Quentin (10:20)
Absolutely. Listen, you may not point at the shirt, but I will. Y’all see it on his chest. Y’all see it there. Like this is what it’s really about. He about building that revolution. So I love it, man. I love it. So listen now, you know, every operator has a moment when things get real, right? Maybe a deal goes sideways or a time you had to pivot fast. You mind sharing one of those stories, Mr. Angel?

Angel L Báez, Jr. (10:42)
Yeah, yeah, definitely. So I, man, I can share with you quite a few over the years, but I’ll just use one that happened most recently. It was a transaction where a client was looking to buy a home. They had been denied by another lender. They were told, hey, you have to put 20 % down. There’s no way we could do this FHA. They came to us. We pre-approved them FHA. We were moving forward FHA. The client ended up having some judgments that came up on their credit.

that needed to get resolved. We were told they were resolved. We pulled the judgment searches. We ended up getting back that the judgments were not resolved and that they were still owed $12,000, just under 12 grand. So the loan officer, the paddle one comes to, you know, the master writer to the leader, right in the packing says, Hey, how do I resolve this situation? Right? Like, we’re gonna lose this deal. I literally sat there.

Quentin (11:30)
Yeah. huh.

Angel L Báez, Jr. (11:37)
And there was a new product that we had launched that’s income earn assistance on a purchase transaction. said, why don’t we put them into this program? He’ll get $12,000. He can use that 12,000 to pay off the judgments. Problem solved. The loan originator on our team said, well, that really work. And I said, yes, that will work. Let’s go forward. Let’s do it. So we went ahead and put into the system. Mind you,

this is 72 hours before closing. That we end up finding out the judgments are not resolved.

We ended up getting the clear to close 24 hours before closing and we were able to close the transaction with the client not having to come out of pocket and an additional 12 grand of their own money. And they were able to use the program that assist them to not only get solar panels, but also get the money as income earn as a 1099 income for them to use towards paying off debt.

That’s the type of solution we come up with.

Quentin (12:25)
See, man, that’s the stuff people don’t talk about. Honestly, that’s what several folks who just dabble for the ones who is in it to stay in it for the long term, right? Different programs, like, okay, you know, yeah, we have the down payment assistance, but if that don’t work, we got income earning program. Like, that’s the thing, man, that y’all have stuff put in place that’s really gonna help people out. So I absolutely love it, man. Absolutely love it. So let me ask you this.

What are you main focused on solving these days? What are you looking to scale next? What’s the next real goal for you?

Angel L Báez, Jr. (13:03)
I would say for us, it’s really just getting the right partnerships in place, right? We’re not looking to bring on, you know, 100 real estate teams to work with us, right? We want to work with the best of the best, We want to, know, iron sharpens iron, right? So we want to work with the best because we’re going to offer the best service.

And we’re also going to show them how they can make additional income to really blow up their business and keep employment employee retention in their teams, which is a really key factor. Real estate people change real estate companies left to right. We’re going to teach them how to keep retention and how to grow and scale and create residual income, which is, you know, the main thing everybody wants. What’s the one thing that is limited that you cannot control?

and that there is only so much of time. So we’re trying to help people create time in their businesses to where they can not only double triple their income, but also create the freedom to do the other things that they truly are passionate about or other things that they enjoy doing on their off time.

Quentin (13:52)
It is.

I hear you and that’s big. You’re putting things in place. I love that to give people back their time. mean, that’s one of our most precious, if not our most precious resource is time. And so I like that you’re forward thinking. And I think you know probably better than anybody, the next move can either compound things or it can create chaos, right? Depending on how you play it, you know? And so I know a lot of people that listening.

Angel L Báez, Jr. (14:29)
Correct.

Quentin (14:34)
And you touched on this, but hopefully I’m setting you up well with this question, but a lot of people that are listening, they’re early in their journey, they’re looking to level up. And I think they’d benefit from hearing this when it comes to building relationships and growing your network. What’s made the biggest difference for

Angel L Báez, Jr. (15:33)
I the biggest difference for me, I would say, is that once once you realize what what we can do for you as an investor as a home buyer, as a real estate developer, as a real estate agent, as a realtor team is I would say the main thing we figured out is how to speed things up and how to make things efficient.

and how to look at obstacles that other people don’t see coming until they’ve already arrived. Right? So that our main thing is, is we’ve got the formula down because we’ve been working on it for a while, my partner and I, and we have it to a place now where we know what it takes. And we know that 80 % of your business comes from 20 % of your clients, right? So the main thing is, is rather than gaining

Quentin (16:17)
Yeah.

Angel L Báez, Jr. (16:21)
Thousands of clients that’s focused on a hundred clients and just do it right and grow this thing right and partner with the right people I would say that’s probably the one thing I’ve learned the most is your partnerships have to have a value, right? not to get you know a Political but there was a book written by somebody in leadership where I always remembered this statement in the book and still to this day is one of my favorite thoughts is I Like to be the dumbest person in the room

I are smarter, right? And that’s always my focus. don’t want to be the smartest person in the room because I’ve outgrown the room I’m in. And that’s always been an approach we’ve taken in business.

Quentin (16:57)
Nah, I love it, man. Relationships are everything in this space. And so having the right relationships, those relationships that are kind of like, in a sense, equally yoked, meaning like, you know, we’re walking together in agreement, we’re walking together in shared perspective, right? Like, and how can we help each other? Like, I absolutely love it. Like, relationships are everything in this space, man. And so, listen, man, I probably only have two.

two more questions to ask you. like to ask these questions sometimes, especially when I’m talking to somebody who is like a forward thinker like yourself. Is there anything lately that maybe you’ve been musing over or thinking about, like any kind of inspiration or encouragement that you want to give to our listeners, maybe just, you just a thought that kind of motivates you, that powers you forward. Like I kind of want to open up the floor to pick your brain. Just…

to kind of motivate and maybe encourage our listeners. So is there anything that kind of comes to mind when you hear this question?

Angel L Báez, Jr. (17:54)
I mean there’s lots of things that that come to mind I would say that if you’re somebody out there and you’re just trying to figure out where to start I Always say that or what not always what I’ve learned over the years is that Finding the cheapest solution to a problem is not always the best way to approach a situation

Right. And unfortunately, a lot of people when it comes to wealth management, when it comes to tax preparation, when it comes to investing, they’re always looking for the cheapest solution, but it doesn’t necessarily always work out to their benefit. I literally had a client recently that came to me about helping them acquire a property or refinance a property under an LLC.

I walked her step by step how to do this, not charging anything. She called me two hours later at nine o’clock at night, had me re-explain it to the husband. I explained it to the husband. They were both dumbfounded that nobody had showed them how to do this before and how the previous loan company never explained this to them or even offered this option to them. And then she texted me in the morning and said, how much do you charge for your services?

I gave her the number and she said to me, she goes, wow, you’re more expensive than the last guy I used. And I said to her, go, well, the last guy you use, is that the same person you’re talking about that you said gave you a horrible experience and you ended up having to put extra money down that you weren’t prepared for? And she said, yes. I go, well, just to let you know, comparing me to somebody that doesn’t know what they’re doing.

isn’t exactly an apple to apples comparison. And all joking aside, I said I’m not Payless, I’m Nike.

Quentin (19:38)
Haha!

Angel L Báez, Jr. (19:39)
And I literally sort of I know what I’m worth and sometimes this is us as human beings We need to know our value right our value what we bring to the table And I said I know my value and my time and my effort and what I put into transactions to make them happen I go people that work with me have worked with me for 10 and 15 years They work with you because they know I have their best interest in mind and I’m working for them When you go for cheap

Sometimes you get transactional and the person doesn’t really care to invest the time it takes to put into that. So I take that approach in all things in life. And I feel like I’ve had to learn that being a kid that grew up in the inner city, you know, with a parent that, you know, was non-present and another parent that really wasn’t, you know, narcissistic. And I didn’t have the means to be where I am today, but I got here by, by rubbing shoulders with people that were there.

and watching what they do and reading books of successful people. And everything I’ve seen is pay for smarter people to help you succeed. Right. And that I would say that would be my one thing that I’m always thinking about is how to improve daily. Right. Like a little bit, just a little bit every day, a little bit every day. Right. But just find the right people to connect with the right people that can teach you something or guide you on something.

Quentin (20:51)
every day.

Angel L Báez, Jr. (20:59)
And don’t always just look for the cheap, quick solution because you’ll end up paying three times more because you went that route anyway. So that’s just my personal life experiences. It’s things I’ve had to learn. And that’s something I’m always willing and more than willing to help others achieve more in this life.

Quentin (21:16)
Well, there he is everyone, Mr. Angel Baez. Man, listen, if someone wanted to reach out to you, right, connect with you, maybe collaborate with you, what’s the best way for them to get out, get in contact with you,

Angel L Báez, Jr. (21:29)
say first they can shoot me an email. My email is a as angel my last name bias BAEB at revolution mortgage.com fully spelled out or they can even shoot me a text message on my cell phone. I’m always checking that thing 24 seven. So it’s 7547159226. And you know, just so you know, where can we do business revolution more easily than 49 states? The only state we don’t do business in is New York.

We have over 180 branches nationally and we did 3 billion last year. We’re projected to do 5 billion in volume this year. you know, follow the revolution. We’re here to keep it going.

Quentin (22:09)
There it is, y’all. Mr. Angel Baez, man. Thank you, sir. Listen, I appreciate your time. I appreciate your perspective and your story. We definitely need more people like you in this space willing to be vulnerable, willing just to say it like it is, and willing to build with integrity, man. So I got to tell you, sir, thank you so much for being with us,

Angel L Báez, Jr. (22:27)
Hey, thank you for your time, Q. Appreciate you.

Quentin (22:30)
Absolutely. And listen, for those that’s tuning in, listen, I’m going to say this very slowly. You need to be subscribed. You do not want to miss out on these amazing conversations that we have, just like my friend, Mr. Baez. Listen, thank you so much, Mr. Angel, again, for being here. And for those that’s listening, we look forward to seeing you one the next time. All right, Angel, thank you so much,