Building a Private Lending Business Around Speed with Will Harvey

A single hard money loan made with unused fund cash helped change the direction of Will Harvey’s business.

Will originally started his first fund to invest in private real estate syndications. After completing one hard money loan, then a few more, he looked at the returns and risk profile and decided to put much more of his attention into private lending.

Today, his business has two sides. He needs good borrowers who need capital, and he needs investors who can help fund those loans.

Will describes that challenge as a seesaw. At different times, he has had more deals than money or more money than deals. Over time, he has learned to work on both sides at once.

He also explains why his ideal borrowers are often experienced BRRR investors doing around 5 to 20 deals per year. He looks for people with experience, cash reserves, and a balance sheet that can handle problems when they come up.

Key topics and takeaways:

• How Will moved from mortgage lending and rental properties into private lending
• Why his first hard money loan happened almost by accident
• The seesaw between finding borrowers and raising capital
• Why relationships have been his strongest source of repeat borrowers
• How Google Ads have also produced leads and closed loans
• Why many of his borrowers are BRRR investors instead of only flippers
• How loan participations can return capital while keeping exposure to a loan
• Why speed, technology, and AI are part of his borrower experience