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All the large market news reporters are wanting us to think banks are beginning to turn things around. Every other story on the news recently has been about the return of the loanable capital. Seems banks now have cash to lend out to worthy victims...I mean homeowners.

Let me give you some background on our situation. I have owned my own consulting company for about 9 years now, but I do receive a W-2 at the end of the year just like everyone else. All my payroll for me and my employees goes through a third party paycheck company.

My company is a self sustaining business with several long term customers. I have over a 710 credit score and I own 3 homes (only 1 with a mortgage).

Being a real estate investor and someone with a few properties and a long standing profitable business (not dealing with real estate), you would think I would be a banker's dream. Think again.

My W-2s don't matter since I own the company!! Now we are back to a stated income loan which are going/gone by the wayside. Even with my 710+ credit score I apparently am too high risk and don't qualify.

This is exactly why I paid cash for the last 2 homes I bought. It shouldn't be this difficult.

Doesn't matter that I am just looking to get a loan on a home I already own outright. A personal home I actually live in, not an investment property. (we bought it outright because it was a HUD that was in BAD SHAPE which no bank would loan on) And to top it off we are only asking for roughly 67% of last appraised value. We just want to put the money we put into the house back into our savings and investments.

Hopefully, some of you can learn from my experience. My advice is to keep some sort of 'job' in the beginning if for nothing else than to collect that W-2 from a third party. (apparently, working for someone else who can close the doors on you at anytime is much more secure than working for yourself when you're in control) It doesn't even have to be full time.

If you have already taken the leap and do not have a 'job' anymore there is still hope. We've had to look into being VERY creative with our finances. You can too.

There's always hard money to bail you out. But depending on how much you need and how long you're going to need it, you might want to explore other avenues. It can get expensive sometimes with lots of strings attached.

What we ended up doing is finding a fellow investor at our local club who had some money just sitting in his IRA. Through a third party holding company he was able to act as our hard money broker. But with lenient terms and no strings.

Just keep an open mind and be willing to ask others for help. There are more people in your shoes than you realize.

Editorial Disclaimer: I realize this post is a bit rough, we've been dealing with this for a long time. It gets frustrating when you try to do the right thing, build something for yourself...only to be penalized for it. All while our next door neighbor is living payment free because the bank doesn't want another foreclosure/vacant home to deal with right now.

OK, off my soapbox, on to happier posts...

We just returned from 3 sun filled days on Upper Captiva Island, Florida. For those who are unfamiliar with the area, Upper Captiva is off the tip of Captiva...only accessible by boat! No gas powered vehicles, only battery operated golf carts allowed. This is where southwest Florida locals go to get away! Or at least we do.

It's definitely a good place to unplug and relax. And all the while, my personal REI site was taking care of my prospects. You could have this kind of freedom too. Just visit aWebPrezenz to get your own REI site and and be on your way to more freedom.

Hey guys-

I was looking around online and came across this little article about the benefits of marketing your real estate business online.

"Marketing is the most important thing that you can do if you are an investor in the real estate business." - Duncan-Wierman

My thoughts exactly. With all the traffic coming online daily, you'd be silly to pass up this treasure trove of prospects.

When I read "You must brand yourself to be recognizable and well known in the real estate market. When you do this you can be extremely successful as an investor.", I couldn't agree more.

If you know anything about me at all you know I believe in under promising and over delivering. So, when I saw "The best thing you can do is be responsive, accurate, timely, trustworthy, and much more" I knew this was a person after my own heart.

If you want to read the entire article, you can find it HERE.