Running a Note Brokerage
How to set up and run a note brokerage as a real business, one deal at a time.
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01
10 Rules for Success as a Note Broker
Why cutting your price to win deals puts note brokers out of business, plus ten hard-earned rules for competing.
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02
5 Things a Successful Note Buyer Must Have
Money, a marketing plan, credibility, technical knowledge and staff: the five things that separate note buyers who make it.
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03
7 Questions to Ask Before You Incorporate
Seven questions that show whether forming a corporation actually helps your note business or adds little.
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04
A No-Holds-Barred Conversation with RAM Funding’s Guy Ercolani
A top-producing note broker on starting out, direct mail versus networking, credit lines, investors going direct and the industry's ethics problem.
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05
Advice for a Beginner
A veteran broker’s honest answer to a part-time beginner: what background, location and support it takes to start.
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06
Are There Really People Successfully Brokering Paper?
A veteran note broker explains why most newcomers fail and the four marketing habits of the few who succeed.
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07
Beginners Should “Get in over Their Heads”: A Reply to “The 60-Second Screen”
A veteran broker argues the deals a quick phone screen rejects are often the best ones, step by step.
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08
Brokering Notes to Private Investors: The Smart, Easy and Profitable Way
How one note company places notes institutions turn down with local private investors, and how it finds, qualifies and keeps them.
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09
Brokers at the Crossroad: The Return of the Private Investor
Why brokers who only pass deals along are squeezed, and practical tips for funding, protecting and profiting from your own notes.
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10
Confessions of a Novice Note Broker
A first-year note broker shares her costly mistakes and how she found deals with investors, agents and FSBO sellers.
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11
Dale Ketcham: Buying Mortgages Since 1970
A veteran mortgage buyer shares how self-promotion, word of mouth and long-running small ads kept notes coming for decades.
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12
Hank Harenberg: All-Time Top Note Broker
A top note broker explains how he built a business by marketing to the bankers, planners and industries note holders trust.
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13
Have Taxi, Will Buy Notes
A cab driver's day as a closing courier shows how to get note papers signed, notarized and delivered on time.
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14
How Many Note Brokers Are There?
Why only a handful of note brokers do most of the business, and four trends that shape who survives.
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15
How National Note Investors Work and How to Spot the Phonies
The three kinds of note buyers, how to tell real investors from brokers posing as buyers, and why you never burn bridges.
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16
How to Set Up Shop as a Note Broker
Practical steps for setting up a home-based note business: bank account, files, equipment, phone and mailing address.
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17
If I Could Give One Piece of Advice to a Note Broker
Twelve note investors share the single piece of advice they would give a broker, from quoting partials to verifying every fact.
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18
Maria’s Money: A 10-Year-Old Buys Small Notes
A 10-year-old explains the seven small notes she bought, how each one works and where to find small notes.
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19
Michael Meeker: The Man Behind the Note Business
A 1998 interview with note brokerage pioneer Michael Meeker on education, attitude, perseverance and the industry's future.
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20
Nick Buschur, Top Broker for the Top Volume Investor, Shares His Secrets
A top-producing note broker explains how he learned part-time, found notes with ads and grew to a deal a day.
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21
Note Brokerage Startup Guide
A practical checklist for setting up your note brokerage: banking, supplies, equipment, phone, marketing and a mailing address.
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22
Peter Fortunato Interview: Using Paper as a Tool
Peter Fortunato on using notes to make real estate deals work, why value is personal, and why paper needs management too.
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23
Start-Up Financing for Your Note Business: Finding an Angel
Who angel investors are, when start-ups turn to them, and what investors check before they put in money.
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24
Take the Money and Run, or Let It Ride? Building Wealth in the Note Business
One real deal shows how to weigh a full-sale fee against keeping a back end of payments, with the yields worked out.
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25
The Art of the Deal: Maximizing Your Opportunities to Build Wealth
When you buy a full note and sell a partial, the investor's prepayment policy can be worth thousands to you. Two case studies show how.
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26
Tricks of the Trade: Lessons from a Divorce Note
A tangled divorce note teaches title, decree and residual lessons, plus tips on mailing, image and finding investors.
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27
What Being a “Broker” Really Means
Broker or principal? How to tell which role you're playing and four steps that protect you when you assign a note.
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28
Wholesale or Retail?
How to decide whether to take a note file wholesale or retail, and what a conditional pre-approval really commits the investor to.
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