I made a $25K private hard money loan to a guy in Jackson MS. He had an investment property he said needed a roof, and we set up the loan to be paid back in 1 year. I had some history with the guy prior to this, he had done a few really kind favors for me at different points. He had a good reputation and I trusted him.
For the last few months when I asked him how it was going he was slow to respond. Not the loan is delinquent and he said he was sick, then him mom was sick on close to death. He said is trying to sell the property.
The property is not listed for sale anywhere, and I had photos taken and its occupied. So I'm guessing the guy is rent skimming, collecting rent and then not paying on the mortgage. Similar to the Big Short. He doesn't know that I know this yet.
I can foreclose, and I will. But I feel like this guy needs to be taught a lesson. He's been around the Jackson MS real estate investing scene for decades. He has a big network, and I have the map of that network. He also has a real estate investing group with several hundred people in, which I was able to scrape the list of.
So what's my next move? My goal is not to optimize my financial return or how fast I get paid. My goal is to maximize how much I can fuck with this guy until he pays. Let's get creative here. Money is not an object and anything is on the table.