Investments | bobforrest

Investment Opportunities

A Secure Place to Earn More Money

To match your lending or investment goal to the opportunities waiting, we search and find various loans cross-referenced by loan term, amount, interest, type of security, and dozens of other factors.

By interviewing you to find out exactly what you would like to do, we can enter your requirements into our computerized selection system and locate the perfect investment for you.

Bob Forrest Loans and Investments is one of the most technologically advanced mortgage brokerages you'll find: from advanced communications to a powerful network of information-gathering computers, linked to our unique, privately developed and copyrighted Bob Forrest Investors Tools software, and a database of borrowers continually updated. This pays off for you with accurate and complete packaging, and we constantly screen hundreds of potential borrowers to find those who match your specific requirements best.

Find out how easy it is to work with the region's most experienced, friendly professionals. We share possibilities with you on an on-going basis. There's no obligation, no pressure. You are in complete control: if you are interested in an investment, we can handle the rest. Our success is based on your comfort and satisfaction. Contact us, let us know what you want, join our growing family.

Loans so safe your Grandmother would invest!

It was from my grandmother that I first learned about real estate contracts, and subsequently mortgages and trust deeds. Grandmother, and Ed Shepherd, who had traveled the world after leaving his original home in Australia, owned a series of homes in Coos Bay, Oregon. They would buy a home in need of fixing up. Often, they would put on a new roof, install a foundation, add central heating with a furnace; paint, paper and beautify a house and then sell it and move into another home to improve. They would usually sell the house on a land sales contract, taking a down payment and then carrying the "paper" and receiving the monthly payments with interest.

Grandmother eventually became an investor in "paper", even if she hadn't owned the real estate first. Local bankers would refer people to her who owned a contract, but needed to sell it for cash.

Let me give you a brief introduction to the opportunities in real estate paper that benefited my grandparents. Loans on real estate in Oregon are usually secured by one of three basic legal instruments, which are, of course, documents. Therefore, they are referred to as "paper". These documents are called Land Sales Contracts, Mortgages and note, and Trust Deeds and note.

They differ in several technical ways, but basically if you own one, you are like a banker or a seller of the property. Someone owes you money, which is paid to you at a specified rate, and you have a lien on their real estate until they pay you in full. And, for investing your money, you receive interest. Payments are often by a monthly payment of either interest only, or principal and interest.

You can look around for these investments on your own, or you can work with a Mortgage Broker. Mortgage Brokers are now licensed by the state of Oregon to serve investors on the one hand, and people who want to borrow money, on the other hand.

Mortgage Brokers basically perform three or more functions: Arrange new loans on real estate, buy and sell existing loans at a discount, and buy portions of loans. That is, they buy a series of payments, say five years of the payments on a loan that has a term of ten years.

From the dozens of requests that come through referrals and advertising, Mortgage Brokers winnow out the ones that are not workable, then investigate and gather information on the ones which they think will interest investors. Mortgage Brokers then do an information sheet to send to interested investors called a "package".

Loans are funded with cash from both private investors and financial institutions. Investors in these types of investments are primarily protected by the "equity" in the real estate property which secures the loan. Equity is the difference between what is owed against the property and the fair market value of the property. Sometimes these loans are referred to as "equity loans". Brokers try to structure these investments so our investors have loans that are up to 65% of value generally,

Most brokers structure transactions so that investors are well secured by the equity in the real estate and are safe! Occasionally, although very seldom, an investor has to foreclose on a borrower who is not paying. This rarely happens, although there is always risk in any investment. The national default rate on real estate loans is less than one percent. But, when it does happen, and in the event the property becomes the property of the investor, the investor may potentially make many times more return on the investment than his promised interest!

Brokers build in safeguards for investors by having as big a buffer between the loan and the fair market value of the property as possible, the "equity". When the borrower still has a large equity in the property, he is very motivated to sell the property or re-finance it, rather than lose his equity through foreclosure. Many investors invest in these trust deeds, mortgages and contracts over and over again. Investment opportunities usually are offered from $20,000 and up, and investors are currently receiving yields and interest rates in the range of 8% to 10%. In 2011 we closed a loan of $2,100.000.00.

Transactions are processed in escrow by a licensed Title Insurance and Escrow company and investors always receive title insurance.