New York real estate investors who delay deals while waiting for interest rates to drop are missing out on profitable opportunities, according to Ruben Izgelov, CEO and Founder of We Lend LLC, a private lender that has funded over $700 million in loans across New York and New Jersey.
Izgelov, who has overseen more than 1,400 loans, observes that the most common mistake borrowers make is stalling on a deal because they are waiting for the Federal Reserve to cut rates or for market conditions to improve. While this reasoning seems sensible, the investors who consistently execute outperform those who wait. “The answer is no, do not wait, just execute and move on,” Izgelov said. “Most of the time, those who are on the sidelines are the ones who are not doing as well as the ones who are just executing.”
A real estate investment that performs at current rates still generates returns. The opportunity cost of sitting out includes deals that close without you, relationships that build without your participation, and market knowledge that develops through active deal-doing. While rates matter and a lender’s cost structure should be competitive, negotiating aggressively over small rate differences and switching lenders to save a quarter of a basis point is counterproductive.
Private lending is relationship-based. A lender who knows a borrower and trusts their judgment will extend flexibility that a new lender cannot. That flexibility shows up when a deal has complications, when a timeline slips, or when a borrower needs a structure outside standard parameters. Borrowers who chase small rate differences by constantly switching lenders never build that depth with anyone. “We are very relationship-based,” Izgelov said. “If I know you are committed to me, I am going to be committed to you.” Borrowers who do consistent deal volume with a lender earn priority and flexibility worth more over time than savings from shaving a quarter point on individual transactions.
The opposite mistake is working exclusively with one lender. Lenders get concentrated in specific asset classes, go on vacation, or become cautious at the moment a borrower needs flexibility. A borrower with only one hard money relationship will eventually hit a deal the lender cannot or will not do, and without a backup relationship, that deal is dead. Izgelov, who completed over 100 fix-and-flip transactions before founding We Lend, advises having multiple working hard money relationships. “I always tell every single borrower: have multiple working hard money relationships, do not just work with one,” he said. The right approach is to have one primary lender that gets most deal flow and at least one secondary relationship kept warm through occasional transactions.
Operationally, the most immediate mistake is arriving unprepared. The speed of closing a deal depends on how quickly a borrower produces complete documentation. We Lend closed a $3 million mixed-use loan in under 48 hours because the borrower had everything needed to process in parallel with appraisal and title work. The standard closing window is seven to ten days, but it extends when documents arrive in pieces or scope-of-work information is incomplete. Borrowers who treat document preparation reactively consistently lose time on competitive deals. For more on how We Lend structures its loan process, visit welendllc.com/how-it-works.
This article is based on information provided by the expert source cited above. It is intended for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or real estate advice. Readers should conduct their own research and consult qualified professionals before making any real estate or financial decisions.
