Private Lending Credibility Kit: Using a Mission Statement to Define Your Purpose

Another important element to include in your private lending credibility kit is the mission statement. This is an element you may not want to do, or you may not have done already. If you haven't, I think there is some value in a mission statement, albeit sometimes it's a little generic, a little lacking in any real specifics I think. If you're going to do a mission statement first of all, maybe send it to me and let's talk about it.

Include Specifics

I think a mission statement has got to be specific and individualized to you. Don't go out and cut and paste some mission statement from another real estate investor or some kit you bought or some guru you went to a weekend seminar and then cut and paste it. It really needs to come from you. It has to be why you're in business. What's your passion about the business and what drives you in terms of wanting to be in real estate investing?

Personalize the Mission Statement

The lender needs to understand who you are and what motivates you. I think that's an important element here. I would really spend some time on it. It doesn't need to be particularly long or even that fancy, but it does need to reflect upon you and why you have gone into business to become a real estate investor and what your passions are.

It helps the real estate investor really understand about you. You're not just a business machine, you're a person. You may want to do low-income housing because you overcame a childhood in poverty and you want to go back and give back to your neighborhood. Wonderful. That comes out in a mission statement.

You may want to help people in pre-foreclosure situations because you experienced that once in your life and it kind of devastated you and you want to give back and help people in that area. Again, these are all wonderful things.

You may want to provide quality, low-income housing. You may want to provide extremely high-end elaborate homes. Whatever it is, let the mission statement kind of reflect that and bring that out. Spend some time on it, but again it should be you.

Avoid Being Generic

It should be your mission statement, not a generic mission statement cut and paste. I think when you do anything like that and you cut and paste from other things it not only is not good, but I think this hurts you. I really do. I think it hurts your presentation. I know if I've read a lot of these things, if you read something that's generic and doesn't seem to be personalized, it kind of makes you wonder how detail-oriented the real estate investor really is.