I have debated with myself for more than a week on this topic because I didn't want to insult a good client.
However, after many days and nights of thinking about this, I have come to the realization that the bad client involved in this has never had any respect for me as a person or my profession in general.
Since the bad client has bought and sold several properties through the years, he "thinks" he knows more about real estate than anyone else. Even though, I have +/-23 years of experience in real estate and loans. He may have +/-10?). And, just because he has bought and sold several properties through the years, he has only asked me to help him maybe once -- and then, he was such a bad client, I vowed to never help him ever again.
Well, the good client who has trusted me through the years came to me a couple of years back and asked me to help him and his partners with a small shopping center they own in Las Vegas that they were upside-down on.
I said I'd give it the 'good ole college try!'
Leap forward up to a few weeks ago, my listing on the property has expired. Now, I had suggested to the partners that they should try to have their loan bought by an investor I know. You see their loan, which was originated by a bank, was acquired by another lender -- who bought the loan from the bank a few years ago at a large discount. The partners do have some money to their names and the bank just wanted to remove the loan from their books to strengthen their FDIC position during the economic downturn.
However, the 'new' lender assigned an asset manager at that time to this loan. This asset manager turned out to be a real 'jerk.' He was going to make these men pay their loan off in in full to get out of their loan which they had all personally guaranteed. Now, when a bank sells a loan, they usually do NOT sell the loan at face value. They usually sell it at a discount so they can get the debt off their books. (This is another topic I can approach in the future.)
Anyway, after a year of me trying to convince the 'jerk' the property wasn't worth what the loan value/payoff was, the lender assigned another asset manager to the property. Now, the 'new' asset manager was amendable to selling the loan to an outside source. You see, I found an investor who I have worked with in the past -- and who has experience buying and selling real estate loans -- to contact the new asset manager to negotiate a loan buy.
Now, I tell my good client, I found someone to acquire their loan. I tell him the plan and, then they could; 1) deed the property to the investor; or, 2) pay the investor off (plus a handling fee) and they would own their property free and clear and their guarantees would then be void.
Anyway, this investor made an offer to buy the loan, He was waiting for a response from the lender. When he hadn't heard in an appropriate amount of time, he called the 'new' asset manager. The investor was told by the 'new' asset manager, he was negotiating a loan pay off with the current owners. I was surprised to hear this.
I immediately called my good client and asked him what was going on? He said that the bad client who was also a partner had suggested that they handle this themselves and that they don't need an outside intermediary to buy the loan for them.
My good client told me that the bad client had suggested that they offer more than what the investor was offering. I asked my good client: "Why would you do that?"
The good client replied, 'that the (bad client) felt that, that was more of a fair settlement on the loan and he didn't want the investor (whoever it was) coming back at them on the guarantee. (Does this make sense?) The investor was doing me a favor and he was going to void the guarantees once the deal was done.
After all of this, I am still waiting to hear IF this is going through. The investor is upset because he now thinks I was using him as leverage for the partners (not true, since I did NOT know they were going to do this) and he is refusing to help them ever again.
And the bad client, who is a short sighted business man, is now on my never, ever help ever again for anything list where I should have kept him right from the beginning.
Contacting David Howes is easy -- either by: davidATdavidhowesDOTnet OR call him at: 70 25 01 93 88 AND Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAHowes
However, after many days and nights of thinking about this, I have come to the realization that the bad client involved in this has never had any respect for me as a person or my profession in general.
Since the bad client has bought and sold several properties through the years, he "thinks" he knows more about real estate than anyone else. Even though, I have +/-23 years of experience in real estate and loans. He may have +/-10?). And, just because he has bought and sold several properties through the years, he has only asked me to help him maybe once -- and then, he was such a bad client, I vowed to never help him ever again.
Well, the good client who has trusted me through the years came to me a couple of years back and asked me to help him and his partners with a small shopping center they own in Las Vegas that they were upside-down on.
I said I'd give it the 'good ole college try!'
Leap forward up to a few weeks ago, my listing on the property has expired. Now, I had suggested to the partners that they should try to have their loan bought by an investor I know. You see their loan, which was originated by a bank, was acquired by another lender -- who bought the loan from the bank a few years ago at a large discount. The partners do have some money to their names and the bank just wanted to remove the loan from their books to strengthen their FDIC position during the economic downturn.
However, the 'new' lender assigned an asset manager at that time to this loan. This asset manager turned out to be a real 'jerk.' He was going to make these men pay their loan off in in full to get out of their loan which they had all personally guaranteed. Now, when a bank sells a loan, they usually do NOT sell the loan at face value. They usually sell it at a discount so they can get the debt off their books. (This is another topic I can approach in the future.)
Anyway, after a year of me trying to convince the 'jerk' the property wasn't worth what the loan value/payoff was, the lender assigned another asset manager to the property. Now, the 'new' asset manager was amendable to selling the loan to an outside source. You see, I found an investor who I have worked with in the past -- and who has experience buying and selling real estate loans -- to contact the new asset manager to negotiate a loan buy.
Now, I tell my good client, I found someone to acquire their loan. I tell him the plan and, then they could; 1) deed the property to the investor; or, 2) pay the investor off (plus a handling fee) and they would own their property free and clear and their guarantees would then be void.
Anyway, this investor made an offer to buy the loan, He was waiting for a response from the lender. When he hadn't heard in an appropriate amount of time, he called the 'new' asset manager. The investor was told by the 'new' asset manager, he was negotiating a loan pay off with the current owners. I was surprised to hear this.
I immediately called my good client and asked him what was going on? He said that the bad client who was also a partner had suggested that they handle this themselves and that they don't need an outside intermediary to buy the loan for them.
My good client told me that the bad client had suggested that they offer more than what the investor was offering. I asked my good client: "Why would you do that?"
The good client replied, 'that the (bad client) felt that, that was more of a fair settlement on the loan and he didn't want the investor (whoever it was) coming back at them on the guarantee. (Does this make sense?) The investor was doing me a favor and he was going to void the guarantees once the deal was done.
After all of this, I am still waiting to hear IF this is going through. The investor is upset because he now thinks I was using him as leverage for the partners (not true, since I did NOT know they were going to do this) and he is refusing to help them ever again.
And the bad client, who is a short sighted business man, is now on my never, ever help ever again for anything list where I should have kept him right from the beginning.
Contacting David Howes is easy -- either by: davidATdavidhowesDOTnet OR call him at: 70 25 01 93 88 AND Follow David on Twitter: @DavidAHowes
