The simple answer is no. Not in the states we are currently doing business in.  There are a total of 30 states that do not require any form of licensing to do hard money business to business loans.

There are some requirements in the other 20 states ranging from Mortgage Broker licenses with bricks and mortar offices, like CA, to just registering as a broker in states like NC.

But in the states we service you are not required to be licensed as we loan private money only to a corporate entity like an LLC, Trust or a Corporation. 

The simple and not so simple answer is you are not an appraiser giving an opinion of value.  As far as Novelle Capital is concerned, we do not want you to provide any opinion of value at all.  EVER.

Every lender is different, some use ARVs, some get full appraisals.  In either case, we as loan originators are not required to provide a value, nor should we.

Every state is different, so please make sure you follow your state's guidelines with this.  But these are not Federally regulated transactions so there is no FNMA to worry about.

If by some fluke you give an estimate of value, I would suggest making a file memorandum and keeping it for 5 years.  It is really that simple.

No, you are not even an independent contractor as far as your relationship with Novelle Capital.  You are an independent broker.  Like being an appraiser.

You are free to set your own fees, prices, times, pick your own lenders, and clients.  Everything is in your control, just like being an appraiser.

We provide you with office support, software, approved lenders, and marketing materials and training.  

We do ask you to sign an NDA as we are providing trade and marketing secrets we wish to keep within the company but other than that you are independent. 

As far as money is concerned. Zero dollars

As for time, we require an onboarding call for about an hour.  And we have provided about 3 hours of training videos, and another maybe 2 hours of training on the software through videos.

So, about a day worth of training with no cash out of your pocket.

Not so bad considering it's a whole new profession. 

We understand the limitations associated with hiring appraisers as loan originators.  That is why we have hired experienced processors to do most of the work for you.

The software has a portal where the borrower can upload all the docs needed and it sends out reminder emails automatically if something is missing.

Since Novelle Capital is a brokerage, we send these loans off to the lender who processes the actual file, we just need to get the info to them.

As appraisers generally know the difference between a Deed and a Mortgage and should understand what a Point is and how closing costs work, we believe the learning curve should be a lot faster than hiring people off the streets.

The real reason we are doing this, is because it makes sense. 

Appraisers could benefit from doing something else with their skill set.  The investor/client would benefit from having an experienced friend to help them with their projects.  The lender benefits because the files they get are cleaner.  And Novelle benefits as we can hire a large number of Loan Originators and get them trained in a relatively short amount of time, while giving a value-added service to the customer.

In other words, this is a win, win, win, win scenario.

The simple answer is, if you are still asking this, maybe you shouldn't.  This is not for everyone. 

But if you are concerned about the future of the industry, don't know where we will be 2-6 years from now, or just want to pad your retirement account while you have some gas left in the tank, then maybe this IS for you.

This can be a part time position, where you or your friends and family can easily borrow money to do your own flips or buy rental properties for your portfolio.

This could be a full-time position, where you completely move away from the AMC grind and use your skills in a way that is more rewarding.

Or you could build up a good group of investors that will continue to send you repeat business well into your retirement years and not have to spend any time marketing.  Only walk through a couple houses a year and drink beers with them on the weekends.

Start with one and move to the other, the choices here are endless.  And the best part is that it's your choice.

Novelle Capital, was formed by appraisers, for appraisers.  With that being said, we are a relationship company.

We want to build relationships with the investors in your markets so they will continue to come back again and again and borrow money from us.

To do that, we need to differentiate ourselves in the market.  We are banking on the fact that these investors could benefit greatly by having a seasoned appraiser on their team teaching them HOW to borrow money from us.

Helping them with design ideas, proper scope of work, proper placement of the subject property in the market, (meaning no under or over improvements) And being a friend they can call if they have a question about a deal.

We, as professionals in our field, have always played that role until Dodd Frank.  We were considered valuable resources in the community, and we were respected for our knowledge.  

We at Novelle Capital believe this can still be the case, maybe just not from the standpoint of placing a value on something anymore. But our skill sets are way more than filling out a form and putting a number on it just to be ridiculed by some minimum wage box checker.   

THAT is why Novelle Capital was formed.

As an independent loan originator, you set your own fees.  

What does that mean exactly?  Well, everyone in the process needs to be paid.  These are hard money loans, so the rates and fees vary. 

Novelle Capital charges 1 point and about $500.00 in fees.  You as the loan originator, can charge anything over what the lender charges plus our Novelle Capital fee.  In most markets that would leave between 1.5 to 3 points back to you as the LO.