From Craigslist to closing over $100 million a year: How these three former Wall St. execs found success in private local lending

When you’re new to the investment real estate game, it’s hard to know who to trust. Well, it’s safe to say, no one understands this concern better than Paul Ullman, Daniel Leyden, and Kevin Rodman, the Managing Partners of Asset Based Lending,

In 2008, the housing bubble burst, taking with it the stock market and the company Paul and Daniel both worked for. “Talk about losing your bearings and wondering where to put your trust. 2008 was the biggest test of my career,” says Paul.

Instead of waiting for someone to come and bail them out, though, Paul and Daniel knew it was up to them to make something happen. Together, they put their trust in the partnership they had built and decided to go all in. After some experimentation and exploration into different business ventures, one opportunity stood out to them—real estate investing.

They formed Asset Based Lending, a hard money lending company that serves local real estate investors, in 2010. Shortly after, ABL brought in Kevin Rodman as the third partner fresh off his 25-year career at Morgan Stanley ultimately as Managing Director and Co-Head of one of the firm’s largest mortgage divisions. But if the financial crisis taught them anything, it taught them that responsible lending is about more than lending money and walking away.

These partners wanted to create a business that gave real estate investors their best chance at success. 10 years later, their highly-respected, Jersey City-based company is the biggest regional player helping real estate investors across 10 states hit their investing goals while remaining true to their original principals of bringing trust and transparency into hard money lending.

Slow, but Steady Growth

Paul and Daniel knew taking a scrappy approach to starting their business was the way to go. With their combined experience—Paul had been the President and Chief Investment Officer, while Daniel had been the Chief Financial Officer and Senior Partner—they had a rich network to get them started.

Between contacting everyone in their virtual rolodexes and taking out ads on Craigslist, Paul and Daniel found their way to their first clients. “It was tough in the beginning,” says Daniel. “We were sharing a small office, staring at the phones and wondering if this big risk would pay off.”

But the two former Wall Street executives made sure that scrappy phase didn’t last long. Through smart networking, patience, and plenty of expertise, the company climbed from a small business advertising on Craigslist, to a highly respected private lending institution that now finances 40-50 projects a month.

“We couldn’t have made this happen without a top-notch team,” Paul says. As the company grew, they made smart decisions and hired like-minded professionals, including up-and-coming executives in Marketing, Finance, and Operations. With the team in place, they took ABL from its first few loans to $140 million in loans last year and over $650 million since inception.

“Our team really helped us understand our clients’ pain points and how to serve them,” says Daniel. “We realized the more we can help those who want to flip or build houses, the better our investments pay off. It’s a win-win!”

Rather than focusing on volume in the early days, Paul and Daniel focused on finding smart investors to build lasting relationships with. As a company that works with investors ranging from life-long builders and experienced fix and flippers to first-time investors, ABL has always encouraged their borrowers to educate themselves as much as possible.

“If you’re a first-time real estate investor, attend real estate meetups, REIA’s, watch YouTube videos, and call your Loan Officer to go over the numbers and discuss deal scenarios,” says Daniel. If you’re serious about getting into the investor market, it’s smart to learn as much as you can. The most successful real estate investors know they can’t treat this like a hobby.

Asset Based Lending Looks to the Future

As much as the future prognosticators want us to believe 2020 will cripple the housing market, Paul, Dan and Kevin don’t see it. “There are incredible opportunities in real estate investing available for smart investors,” says Paul. “After funding over 3,000 loans and evaluating thousands more, we have our finger on the pulse of our market.”

Jersey City, for example, is seeing a real estate boost from New Yorkers seeking cheaper alternatives to living in the city with some more room to spread out. Properties in the area are selling at 10% increase from this time last year. Says Daniel, “we’ve had clients go knocking on the doors of owners with mortgages past due and they’ve found incredible deals this way.”

In addition to fix and flip projects, ABL lends money for new construction, rental properties, and cash-out refinance investment projects, and each of those projects is unique.

“Because there’s no one-size-fits-all loan, our loan process is flexible,” Daniel says. “And, while we only lend to entities, not individuals, we understand there are real people at the helm of those entities. Those people always get individual attention from one of the owners because we’re the underwriters. We get to know our clients and their needs, and we can tweak individual loans in a way that makes sense for the borrower and their specific project.”

The key to making real estate investment work is finding contractors, partners, and lenders you can trust. Paul, Daniel, and Kevin have built Asset Based Lending from the ground up with trust as the highest value.

“We set out to create a company where borrowers knew we were on their side and also knew they were getting the best service possible,” says Paul.

These three former Wall Street execs managed to create the most reliable and honest hard money lending program in the country. With competitive rates, quick financing, and transparent communication, Asset Based Lending enters the new decade as the premier choice for real estate investors looking for hard money loans.

Asset Based Lending, LLC (ABL) is a private hard money lender that has been featured in The Scotsman Guide and Inc. Magazine. Their mission is to help real estate investors quickly and efficiently finance their business activities. They have funded over 3,000 loans for $650 million worth of volume for residential and mixed-use investment properties. Click here to find out more: https://www.abl1.net/