Fast Track to Real Estate Investing: Private Lending with Simple Money Loans

In this episode of Game Changer’s Collective, host Cassi Manner sits down with Bob Richards, owner of Simple Money Loans, to break down how private lending is helping real estate investors move faster and scale more efficiently. 

The conversation covers what makes a strong loan candidate, how the pre-approval process works, and common misconceptions around borrowing. Bob also shares insights on current opportunities in markets like Augusta and Aiken, along with practical advice for first-time investors looking to get started with confidence.

From credit and cash reserves to building strong relationships and navigating market changes, this episode offers clear, actionable guidance for anyone looking to grow in real estate investing.

Takeaways

- Private lending offers speed and flexibility compared to traditional financing.
- Pre-approval and preparation are key to securing deals.
- Strong borrowers combine strategy, credit, and cash reserves.
- Local market knowledge and relationships drive success.

To Learn More About Simple Money Loans, Visit:

Website: https://simplemoneyloans.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplemoneyloans/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100094395340702

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SimpleMoneyLoans

Transcript

Introduction to Simple Money Loans and private lending in real estate

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to today's episode of Game Changers Collective, the podcast where we bring together entrepreneurs, investors, and industry leaders who are rewriting the rules and building wealth on their own terms. Today's episode is with Simple Money Loans, your go-to partner for hard money lending. When speed, flexibility, and opportunity matter most, hard money gives you the ability to move fast, close deals, and scale your real estate portfolio without the red tape of traditional banks. In this episode, we're breaking down everything you need to know about hard money, how it works, when to use it, and how the smartest investors are leveraging it to get ahead. Let's get into the episode. Bob, it's a pleasure to have you here today. I'm so excited to get into the episode.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Thanks, Cassie. It's good, it's great to be here.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

So tell us a little bit about Simple Money Loans and how the company got started.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

We started Simple Money Loans and was had some experience lending, getting people financed on automobiles. So when we exited that business, I had a friend tell me about real estate lending. And we started with one loan, and here we are today.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

That's awesome. So what made you want to enter the lending and financial industry? I know you mentioned you were in the automotive industry, but what made you have that interest and want to make that jump?

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Well, I like helping people. I like working with others. I'm used to I'm used to lending. I've spent a big part of my life getting people financed on automobiles. And so today we're helping investors and people that flip buy houses and make money. It's a very rewarding business.

SPEAKER_00 1:33

Awesome. I love that. So who are the typical clients that you work with day to day?

SPEAKER_01 1:36

Some of the clients would be we work with anybody from a first-time investor that is doing their first flip to a number of clients that we have eight and nine houses with at any one time. So those people are they're selling a house and always adding a house. And we'll keep seven or eight financed for them. For a first-time borrower, we're holding their hand, making

Understanding who typically borrows and why they choose private lenders

SPEAKER_01 2:02

sure that they're buying the right property, that their repair estimate looks good, and that they can turn it and make money so they'll come back and see us again.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

That's amazing. So they're not just coming to you really to get the loan. They're actually, you know, you're educating them and you're helping them and giving them the value.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

We look at every client as a partner. So we don't want them to have any problems because then we feel like we've got a problem. Plus, we want we just want to be, have them be successful. And so it's it's enjoyable to work with a first-time investor and to see them make money and then move on to maybe a bigger project the next time.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Awesome. So for someone new to this space, what does a private or alternative lender actually do?

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Well, there's a there's a big difference between lenders. So we're we primarily lend locally. I say that we lend all over South Carolina and all over Georgia. We as a lender position ourselves as a partner with the client to ensure their success. There are some larger lenders, it's a huge industry, and there's some larger lenders that are there primarily to make a loan. They can't give the extra attention that we can give our lenders as far as helping them underwrite the deal to make sure they're successful. So someone someone would come to us and basically they'd either want to be pre-approved or they would have a property in mind they they'd like us to look at. And we start there, we look at the we analyze the property, we'll, you know, most of the time it's a good property, but we'll tell them if we see

How private lenders analyze properties and underwrite deals

SPEAKER_01 3:41

a problem and or a possible issue. We'll look at their scope of work and make sure they've included everything necessary. And then we'll look at their projection of what the property will sell for to make sure that they have a deal that will that will make them money. And that's the service that we provide. So we're just not lending, we're not alone lending money. We are making sure that they have a successful business model.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

And so, what are some big misconceptions people have about borrowing money working with lenders?

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Well, I would say some misconceptions are that it's too expensive, or it's too time consuming, or it's maybe there's too much

Common misconceptions about borrowing costs and risks

SPEAKER_01 4:23

risk. So when we underwrite the deal with the client, we'll help them, we'll walk them through what the expenses will be, and we we want them to include that as an expense, just like the roof might be an expense, or a new air conditioner might be an expense. You want your your interest cost to be an expense so that you'll so that you'll make money. We've never had to foreclose on a property. If we've had somebody get a little get in a little bit of trouble, or maybe they can't sell a house, or maybe they can't finish the rehab, we've been able to move in and help them finish the rehab or help them sell the house or be any assistance that we can so that they can still be successful, even though they hit a few bumps in the road.

SPEAKER_00 5:10

That's amazing. So how long have you been in business?

SPEAKER_01 5:12

Well, we've been in this business for five years.

SPEAKER_00 5:14

So five years. So in the past five years, you haven't had anybody that really got into a a super sticky spot where you had to foreclose. You were able to help them out of it.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Never, never have. We have had some people that we've had to help.

SPEAKER_00 5:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

But that's that's part of the that's part of the service that we provide.

SPEAKER_00 5:31

That's incredible. Well, they're lucky to have you. I'm sure they're very grateful.

SPEAKER_01 5:35

Well, I hope so. And and you know, we want to feel good about our business.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Yeah, that's amazing. So, what makes someone a strong candidate for a loan approval?

SPEAKER_01 5:43

We look at four things. So we want to see the property, where it is and what it looks like. We want to know what the experience is. Now, the uh this is just a knowledge thing. We don't turn someone down because they have no experience. We just work with them a different way. So we want to see what their experience level is, and then we want them to have a certain amount of cash in the bank because you have expenses outside what we provide in flipping a house or remodeling a house. And then we look at a credit score.

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Okay, great. And so those metrics basically tell you if someone's qualified to be able to move through the loan process with you guys. Once you determine that, what are the next steps?

SPEAKER_01 6:26

The next steps are they would go to our website and they would load in their documents such as a copy of their driver's license, if they're using an LLC, their LLC docs. We try to keep our list of documents as small as possible because we want it to be simple. They would load those and then we would start underwriting the deal with them. So we're going to look at their scope of work, we're going to take a deeper dive into the property and make sure their numbers make sense.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

And so, what should someone do before applying for financing to improve their chances of being approved?

SPEAKER_01 6:59

Well, they can just give us a call. We provide uh free advice. So if someone wants to text us or call us and just say, what do you think about this property? Or would I qualify for a loan? We'll take a phone call. We'll try to to evaluate them or the property very quickly so that so they're not wasting their time.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

Beautiful. I love that. So what types of loans are you seeing the most demand for right now?

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Our bread and

Steps to qualify for a private loan and documentation needed

SPEAKER_01 7:23

butter loan is a single-family home, maybe a three-bedroom, two-bath, brick ranch. That's where most of the success comes from. We do a lot in what we call South Augusta, which is a more affordable part of the Augusta area. But of course, we we do a a lot of lending in Aiken, South Carolina. I'm probably getting a little bit off topic here, but I would say your basic single family home that's a three-bedroom, two-bath.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

And so you guys have become known as kind of the go-to people in your area that's, you know, incredible in such a short amount of time. So, what really sets you apart from maybe some other people that they could work with? Why do clients choose you and

Tips for improving chances of loan approval before applying

SPEAKER_00 8:06

why are they ultimately really happy with their choice?

SPEAKER_01 8:08

Well, there are many other lenders in our area, but not all of them land. So we'll land on the purchase and we'll lend them all of the rehab funds. We do a uh a loan that's long enough for them to remodel the property and sell it without having to do an extension. And because we lend our own money, we're able to flex more than a larger company.

SPEAKER_00 8:34

And so what advice would you give to someone looking to finance their first investment property or business venture?

SPEAKER_01 8:39

So if you're going to do your first property, I would come to us and let's get pre-approved first. Let's look at your documents, let's look at your cash in the bank, your credit score, maybe some properties that you've looked at that you have in mind. We can have a pre-approval for you. And so once we have you pre-approved, you can seriously start looking at some properties and we can assist you in that and help you pick the right one.

SPEAKER_00 9:04

Got it. And so, how have interest rates and market changes affected borrowers recently? Because I know that's on everybody's mind.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

Well, interest rates go up and interest rates go down. We haven't really changed our interest rates that much. So we pretty much have the same terms

Types of loans most in demand, focus on single-family homes

SPEAKER_01 9:19

that we've started with.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

Awesome. So, where do you see opportunities in the market today for investors or entrepreneurs?

SPEAKER_01 9:26

The opportunities that I see are we have a number of investors that remodeling and selling larger homes. So we have a couple homes on our books that are going to sell for over a million dollars, which is a lot in our market. And of course, the the Augusta market, along with Aiken, South Carolina, provides a a lot of affordable housing where you can buy a nice three-bedroom, two-bath for $300,000. So anywhere in that reach, but I think what we're seeing more is we're seeing some investors make some big profits on some more expensive properties.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Okay. That's incredible. And so if someone's looking, you know, they're they're maybe interested in getting into real estate. What would your advice be to them in in terms of making a good first investment, a good first decision?

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Well, they they should either come by the office and talk to us or

Advice for first-time investors: pre-approval and market insights

SPEAKER_01 10:16

or call us by phone. We can put them in touch with other investors. We can tell them the areas where the most flips are taking place. We can tell them the most profitable zip codes, and we can even go as far as telling them or providing them with vendors' names that can help them remodel the house.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

Wow, very cool. So you guys are like a networking source in your area.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

We are, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

So what are the initial habits successful investors have?

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Well, I would say one is having enough cash in the bank. So the old saying is cash is king. You've got to have a certain amount of money to be able to flip a house and not be not be too worried. Because it might sit on the market for a m a month or two longer than you than you think it's going to. And you've got some got some holding costs there. The other is really take care of your credit score. Because your credit score really is your ability to borrow with any bank or any lender. We can help you with the rest. We can help you with the experience, and we can help you find the property.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

And so, what mistakes do you see people make when trying to scale their finances?

SPEAKER_01 11:27

I see that we don't see many mistakes, but I would say that maybe they get too many houses at one time and they get a little squeezed on cash. So what you want to do is you want to flip one and then maybe you try flipping two, and then if everything looks good, you try flipping three. You don't want to go from one to three. You want to hit one, two, three, and then go up from there.

SPEAKER_00 11:51

Understood. If someone is, let's see, say they're really experienced and they've worked with some other lenders, but they're looking to try somebody new, maybe they had a bad experience. Where do you feel like you guys really, you know, shine and where they would have that refreshed experience through working with your team?

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Well, we're local, so we know we know this market better than anybody. And we we have a local office that they can come and visit us. If

Opportunities in the current market, including high-end flips

SPEAKER_01 12:16

they want to talk to us, they can they have my cell phone and everybody's cell phone. So we're very accessible. We don't have layers of management or layers of people or different departments. Buddy handles pretty much everything every day. The way we've structured our business is we have a group meeting every morning at 10 o'clock, and everybody in the office knows all the projects that we have going and everything going on. So if you call in, we have a staff of three besides me. You can talk to anybody, they'll be able to help you and get you an answer quickly.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

So you offer a very boutique, personalized experience.

SPEAKER_01 12:53

Right, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 12:54

And when you were designing your business model and what your customer experience was going to be like, why was that important to you?

SPEAKER_01 13:00

Well, it's always been important to me in my career. Of course, I started off in the automobile business, and that is a huge repeat business and a huge business based around customer satisfaction. So we took those two metrics to this business, and here again, we're trying to have great borrower or great client satisfaction and provide a high level of service for our clients.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Beautiful. And so you obviously have a ton of experience. I always love to talk stories. So are there any big success stories that come to mind over the last several years that you'd like to share?

SPEAKER_01 13:34

Yeah, I would say that uh I have a I have a client right now that's one of my better clients, and they've bought a house that was damaged in the hurricane in a very nice neighborhood. And I think they purchased it for around $200,000. They're gonna spend around $300,000. They're finished with the house, and they've got it under contract for over a million dollars.

SPEAKER_00 13:58

That's incredible.

SPEAKER_01 13:58

Yeah, I can't. That's a big yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Any other ones? I mean, I love hearing stories like this.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Any other ones? So I have a number of I have a two-man team, two gentlemen that work together as partners, and they're buying properties around the Augusta National, which is the big, the big golf tournament in town, and they they probably sell three or four houses a month. They tend to keep half of those. So they have a rental portfolio, and then they're flipping the other two or three to increase their cash flows. And we see that's a good model. If you if you want to be an investor

Scaling strategies and how to avoid over-leveraging

SPEAKER_01 14:41

and hold on to a property, you also need to flip because the flipping provides your cash for operations. And if you're holding a house, that provides your long-term income.

SPEAKER_00 14:52

So I know you mentioned also you make a lot of introductions to people, investors, vendors, any cool introductions you've made over the years that have turned out to be, you know, really beneficial for your clients.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Sure. So we have a number of what we call wholesalers in town who put houses under contract and sell them to investors. And the neat thing about that is these investors or these wholesalers flip themselves. So we not only loan to the wholesalers, but we'll turn around and loan to the investor. And it's always rewarding to help somebody with their first flip and help and help them make money. A lot of people do this as a second job or a weekend or a side gig. And for people to be able to increase their personal income without having to change

The importance of a personalized, boutique approach

SPEAKER_01 15:43

jobs is rewarding for us. The other thing we like about this business is we're taking homes that need work, that need to be rehabbed, and we're preparing them for the next owner. So one thing that we don't see personally, but that we know of is we're improving the overall housing operation or we're helping improve the overall housing operations in in the Augusta and Aiken area.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

That's awesome. Well, for um, you know, the people that you're working with, are you working with real estate agents in any capacity?

SPEAKER_01 16:16

We do. About a third of our clients are also real estate agents. So they're buying and selling properties for their clients, but

Success stories: High-value flips and market impact

SPEAKER_01 16:23

they're always they're also able to flip a property or two on the side, which here again increases their income.

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Amazing. And so where can people learn more about Simple Money Loans or apply for financing?

SPEAKER_01 16:35

So you go to our website, which is simple money loans dot com, or you can call us at the number on the website, or come by or come by our office at 107 Clark Street, Augusta, Georgia.

SPEAKER_00 16:48

Awesome. And so what is one financial tip everyone listening should remember?

SPEAKER_01 16:52

One financial tip uh everybody should remember, I would say cash is keen because if you have cash and you find a deal, you can move on. That's great advice.

SPEAKER_00 17:01

And so I always love to ask people so what is one piece of game-changing advice just for life? So it could be like personal that you heard in your life, piece of advice that you were like, oh wow, and it kind of shifted things for you.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Well, I think it would be so I've I've got a couple daughters and I'm trying to work with trying to work with them. Start saving early. Because what really makes you money over your lifetime is time. So the earlier you can start saving, putting some money aside, the more time is working for you so that as you mature, you'll have more options available to you.

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Beautiful. Love that. And so going off of that, uh, say people are starting to save, right? Maybe for the first time. What's the best way for them, in your opinion, to be saving certain types of, you know, savings accounts, or what do you recommend?

SPEAKER_01 17:55

I would say have it automatically withdraw, withdrawn out of your check. Or if you're self-employed, set set at least 10% aside every month. As it grows, open a money market account, put it in a money market. As that grows, then put some in the stock market, like the like the overall US market or the S P 500.

SPEAKER_00 18:15

Awesome. And when do you feel is a good place in people's saving journey to maybe think about, you know, doing an investment property for the first time and giving you guys a call?

SPEAKER_01 18:25

I would say whenever you have the right amount of cash and the right amount of time and the right amount of desire.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

And in your market, right? So someone listening, they're in your market, they have some cash saved, they don't know like what is the right amount. What is kind of the average that you see that's a healthy amount that people, you know, can comfortably, you know, invest? What does that kind of look like with your clients where you either tell them, yeah, you're approved, this looks good, or you know, keep saving. What does that first-time investor threshold look like?

SPEAKER_01 18:55

So the average rehab, the average rehab in the Augusta market is $40,000. We like them to have that much money in the bank. And the reason why is when we lend, we're lending 80% of the purchase. So that will eat up about half of that money. And then we'll fund all the rehab, but that still leaves the investor with some money in the bank to cover any incidentals or utilities or things that that may come up as they hold the property until it sells.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

So about $40,000 is where you see the average first-time investor coming in. Wow, that's lower than I thought. I thought it would be much higher than that.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Well, we're our housing so affordable here. It's it's uh it's a low uh a low barrier or a low uh benchmark that they have to Yeah, it's a great market for people to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_00 19:46

It's much harder in other areas. So you guys are situated in a great spot.

SPEAKER_01 19:50

True.

SPEAKER_00 19:51

Cool. Anything else you want to leave our listeners with today?

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Just that, you know, we're we're here, we want to help you. Call us, email us, apply on our website. We'd love to have a conversation with you and help you either start a side business or help you be a full time successful investor.

SPEAKER_00 20:09

Thank you so much, Bob. It was a pleasure.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

All right, thank you, Cassie.