PRIVATE CLIENT NEWSLETTER

You are receiving this letter because you are either a high-net-worth client of Blackburne & Sons Realty Capital Corporation (since 1980) or you once applied for a commercial real estate loan of $1 million or more using C-Loans.com or CommercialMortgage.com. Blackburne & Sons and C-Loans, Inc. are sister companies.

Signs of rising labor costs are everywhere.  While rising labor costs alone wouldn't create the serious inflation that’s I’m predicting, they will be the spark.  Today we also have lots of cute, clean jokes, some funny pics, and a video of some outright disturbing new robots.  Creepy.  Removal Instructions are below.

Joke Du Jour

An Englishman, a Scotsman, an Irishman, a Welshman, a Latvian, a Turk, a German, an Indian, an Iranian, a Bahamian, a Saudi Arabian, a Syrian, an Egyptian, an Armenian, several Americans including a southerner, a New Englander, and a Californian, an Argentinean, a Dane, an Australian, a Slovakian, an Egyptian, a Japanese, a Moroccan, a Frenchman, a New Zealander, a Spaniard, a Russian, a Guatemalan, a Colombian, a Pakistani, a Malaysian, a Croatian, a Uzbek, a Barbadian, a Cypriot, a Pole, a Lithuanian, a Chinese, a Sri Lankan, a Lebanese, a Cayman Islander, a Ugandan, a Vietnamese, a Korean, a Uruguayan, a Czech, an Icelander, a Mexican, a Finn, a Honduran, a Panamanian, an Andorran, an Israeli, a Venezuelan, a Fijian, a Peruvian, an Estonian, a Brazilian, a Portuguese, a Liechtensteiner, a Mongolian, a Hungarian, a Canadian, a Moldovan, a Haitian, a Norfolk Islander, a Macedonian, a Bolivian, a Cook Islander, a Tajikistani, a Samoan, an Armenian, a Aruban, a Tahitian, an Albanian, a Greenlander, a Micronesian, a Virgin Islander, a Georgian, a Bahaman, a Belarusian, a Cuban, a Tongan, a Cambodian, a Qatari, an Azerbaijani, a Romanian, a Chilean, a Kyrgyzstani, a Jamaican, a  Filipino, a Ukrainian, a Dutchman, an Ecuadorian, a Costa Rican, a Swede, a Bulgarian, a Serb, a Swiss, a Greek, a Belgian, a Singaporean, an Italian, a Norwegian, a Latvian and forty-seven Africans walk into a very fancy restaurant...

"I'm sorry," said the maître d', scrutinizing the group one by one and barring their entrance. "Sorry, you can't come in here without a Thai.”

Even When Tony Soprano Was Young...

Remember, You Want To Stick Like Glue To Blackburne & Sons:

We are a very rare breed of animal. We are old-time syndicators. I explain more in the final section of this newsletter.

Near-Accident Joke

As I drove into a parking lot, I noticed that a pickup truck with a dog sitting behind the wheel was rolling toward a female pedestrian.  She seemed oblivious, so I hit my horn to get her attention.  She looked up just in time to jump out of the way of the truck's path, and the vehicle bumped harmlessly into the curb and stopped.  I rushed to the woman's side to see if she was all right.  "I'm fine," she assured me, "but if that dog hadn't honked…”

Today's Obserevation: Signs of Rising Labor Costs Are Everywhere

Ronald Reagan decertified the Air Traffic Controller’s Union back in 1981.  In the process, he largely broke the back of labor unions for almost 40 years.  The same year, Paul Volker, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, broke the back of inflation by raising the the prime rate to 21.5 percent.  Since then the United States has enjoyed disinflation (a falling inflation rate) and falling interest rates.  The trend continued until interest rates on government bonds in Germany, Switzerland, and Japan went negative in 2016.

It’s been a nice run, but nothing good lasts forever.  At one point last month, teacher’s unions in twenty different states were threatening walkouts.  The national unemployment rate has fallen to just 3.9%.  Some economists were surprised when the United States created fewer than 200,000 new jobs for three straight months.  I’m not surprised.  How can the country create new jobs when it has used up the last of its workers?

“But George, what about the low labor participation rate?  Can’t we lure some more workers back into the workforce?”  Social Security Disability is the new Welfare, and few “ disabled folks” are going to give up a guaranteed check from the government in exchange of an uncertain paycheck from a private company.  In addition, we’ve got a boatload of addicts who will never pass a drug test.

Folks, the country is at full employment.  Millions of Baby Boomers are retiring, and successive generations just haven’t been making enough new babies.  How many “Help Wanted” signs have you seen recently?  Here in the Midwest, such signs are everywhere.  I happen to be a Trump supporter (forgive me), but this country desperately needs more immigrants.  In my fantasies, Trump gets his wall and his immigration reform by giving the Democrats a three-fold increase in Latin American legal immigration.

Economics 101 teaches us that whenever demand is greater than supply, prices tend to increase.  Labor costs simply must increase as employers compete for a limited number of workers.  Until my next newsletter, please be on the lookout for (1) Help Wanted signs; (2) more labor unions flexing their muscles; and (3) business owners protesting to President Trump about the shortage of available workers.

My prediction is this:  As more and more Americans demand higher wages, Cost-Push Inflation will ignite an inflationary cycle.  You will recall that Cost-Push Inflation is inflation caused by an increase in prices of inputs like labor, raw material, etc.  The increased price of the factors of production leads to a decreased supply of these goods.Increasing inflation and rising paychecks will force and encourage banks to start lending again.  The Multiplier Effect (if a bank makes a $1 new loan, the country’s money supply increases by $20) will soon lead to late-1970’s level of inflation.  As investors, we want to get ahead of that curve.

Buckle Up, Folks

Download Your Free Guide, "How To Find Houses To Flip"

Download your free guide here.

Space X Joke

"Some critics are now saying that NASA will be unable to use SpaceX's rocket because it's too small.  However, SpaceX insists that it's just the cold weather.” — Conan O'Brien

Need a Commercial Real Estate Loan?

C-Loans.com is a commercial mortgage portal. It will take you just four minutes to complete your mini-app. Then C-Loans will sort through its databank of 750 commercial lenders and produce for you a custom-generated Suggested Lender List containing twenty to thirty lenders who are perfect for your particular deal. You put a check mark next to six lenders and then press, "Submit." Within minutes hungry commercial lenders will be contacting you with offers.

T. Rex Joke

"At this weekend's London marathon, a man proposed to his girlfriend while dressed as a T. Rex, which backfired when his arms were too short to open the ring box.” — Jimmy Fallon

Invest in 7% to 12% First Mortgages

You probably have money set aside for your retirement and for the cost of college for your children and grandchildren. It shouldn't all be invested in the stock market.

In California, the first trust deed investment business is huge. A recent law change - the JOBS Act - now allows accredited investors nationwide to also invest in these same first trust deeds and first mortgages. Click here for more information.

Hands of a Woman Joke

You can tell a lot about a woman's mood by looking at her hands. For example, if she's holding a handgun, she's probably angry.

If You Cannot Find the Perfect Commercial Lender on C-Loans, Then Try Our Second Portal

We actually own another commercial mortgage portal, CommercialMortgage.com ("CMDC"). I paid $100,000 just for that domain name. Ouch. Actually it was very worth it.

Anyway, CMDC is a much easier and faster commercial mortgage portal than C-Loans. In addition, CMDC enjoys over 3,000 different commercial lenders. So why shouldn't you just always use CommercialMortgage.com?

Unlike CMDC, C-Loans.com actually allows you to submit your commercial loan to dozens and dozens of commercial lenders, six lenders at a time. But if C-Loans doesn't produce just the right lender, then you should move on to CommercialMortgage.com.

And best of all, both our our commercial mortgage portals are 100% free.

I'll Give You a Three-Second Head Start

Motorcycle Gang Joke

"A motorcycle gang in Canada is attacking businesses they don't like by giving them mass one-star reviews online. They're the fearsome badass biker gang known as 'Yelp's Angels.'” — Conan O’Brien

Want to Speak With a Loan Officer From Blackburne & Sons?

Blackburne & Sons, our private money commercial lending company, continues to seek slightly-flawed first mortgages between $100,000 to $3.5 million on standing commercial properties nationwide.

To apply for a private money commercial loan from Blackburne & Sons, please find your favorite loan officer below:

Alicia Gandy (Loan Goddess): 916-338-3232 Ext. 310
To apply to Alicia online, please click here.

George Blackburne IV: 916-338-3232 Ext. 314
To apply to George IV online, please click here.

Tom Blackburne: 574-210-6686
To apply to Tom online, please click here.

Michael Young: 916-338-3232 Ext. 312
To apply to Mike online, please click here.

Goodwill Joke

My wife has been missing a week now.  The police said to prepare for the worst, so I had to go back down to Goodwill to get all of her clothes back.

Invest in 7% to 12% First Mortgages

I strongly urge you to get on our email list of private mortgage investors. We sell exclusively by email, and we have been selling such investments for over 30 years. Click here for more information.

Pakistan Joke

The Red Cross just knocked on my door and asked if we could contribute towards the floods in Pakistan.  I said, "We'd love to, but our garden hose only reaches the driveway."

Here is Why You Want to Stay Close to Blackburne & Sons:

Founded in 1980, Blackburne & Sons is an old-time syndicator. There are very few of us left. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 pretty much nuked the whole syndication industry off the face of the Earth. Because you know a syndicator, you now have access to some special money.

If you need a fix and flip loan, a buy-to-rent loan, a bridge loan, or even a permanent loan on, say, your single-wide trailer park in Georgia, we'll make you a private money loan. We've been syndicating hard money loans for 37 years.

If you have some dough set aside for your kid's college, and you want to be extra careful with it, we'll put you into a first trust deed investment (6% to 9% yields) on, say, a nice 8-unit apartment building in San Jose, California.

Let's suppose you are richer than Crassus, and you want to speculate in 11% and 12% first trust deeds. We've got them.

Do you find yields of even 11% to 12% too tame? Want a chance to earn 16% or 17%? We put together syndicates to make preferred equity investments.

Are you a wise investor? We put together syndicates to buy investment properties for all cash. (This strategy has my strongest recommendation.) Because you would own the property free and clear, you should be able to weather just about any recession. Right now we are buying industrial buildings close to downtowns in big California cities.

We have not yet raised equity capital for a developer, but if someone brought us a development deal on a small, multi-tenant industrial building located within a mile of downtown of a large California city, we would definitely take a look at it.

Do you own any first mortgage notes? Want to sell a note at a discount? Better yet, why not simply borrow against it? This is called a hypothecation, and we do 'em.

Please be very wise and play close attention to the following:

Because every loan we make is a new syndicate (as opposed to a fund investment), Blackburne & Sons is always in the market.

When the stock market has fallen by 40%, when real estate values are falling like a knife, and when your own bank is too terrified to lend you a dime, Blackburne & Sons always has a group of savvy investors willing to lend - admittedly at a price - when blood is running in the streets. We are one of a tiny handful of lenders who remained in the market, making loans, every single day of the Great Recession.

So stick close to us. Syndicators are pretty rare, and now you know one.

Alexa Joke

"According to a new report, Amazon is working on a robot that follows its owner around the house.  It's basically an Alexa on wheels. This is going to be a hot item.  Here's how you get one: You leave your Alexa and your Roomba alone in a bedroom and let nature take its course.” — James Corden

Video - These Robots Are Getting Outright Creepy

Imagine one of these robots chasing you down with a kill order.

Sweet Apartment Loan Program for "A” Deals

You're probably used to thinking of Blackburne & Sons as a subprime commercial lender, but since our acquisition of CommercialMortgage.com (I paid more than a house), some of the nation's largest commercial mortgage investors are giving us wonderful opportunities. Please be sure to check out our great new apartment program.

To apply for an apartment loan from Blackburne & Sons, please find your favorite loan officer below:

Alicia Gandy (Loan Goddess): 916-338-3232 Ext. 310
To apply to Alicia online, please click here.

George Blackburne IV: 916-338-3232 Ext. 314
To apply to George IV online, please click here.

Tom Blackburne: 574-210-6686
To apply to Tom online, please click here.

Michael Young: 916-338-3232 Ext. 312
To apply to Mike online, please click here.

Make Beautiful Babies, Not Potato Chips!  America Needs Children.

Final Funny

A busload of politicians was driving down a country road, when suddenly the bus ran off the road and crashed into an old farmer’s barn.  The old farmer got off his tractor and went to investigate. Soon he dug a hole and buried the politicians. A few days later, the local sheriff came out, saw the crashed bus and asked the old farmer where all the politicians had gone.  The old farmer told him he had buried them.  The sheriff asked the old farmer, "Lordy, were they ALL dead?”  The old farmer said, "Well, some of them said they weren’t, but you know how them crooked politicians lie."