How to Find Money for Your Next Deal: Private Lending Lessons From an Asheville Real Estate Panel

How to Find Money for Your Next Deal was the March 2025 AVLmeetup, held March 4 at The Mule at Devil's Foot Beverage in Asheville. About 120 people heard a panel of Asheville real estate investors, including Teresa Karnezis and Katie Ciochetti, work through where financing comes from, right after a primer on how proposed tariffs could hit construction costs.

Key Takeaways

Katie Ciochetti, investing for 20 years, said bigger, institutional lenders want to see 7 to 10 deals under your belt before they feel safe, unlike smaller private lenders who move faster on relationships.
Teresa Karnezis, 13 years into flipping older Asheville-area homes, rotates between 5 private lenders and once assembled 7 on a single project: 4 from California she never met, funding the purchase, plus 3 more funding the build.
One panelist closed on a 10-unit apartment building through private lender Heritage about six weeks before the panel, after buying the property from a wholesaler he met through AVLmeetup.
Katie Ciochetti's most creative deal was an apartment-to-condo conversion: she seller-financed about three-quarters of the purchase, added a junior loan for the rest, converted the units in about six weeks, then sold three to pay off the financing while keeping one.
The night opened with a tariff primer noting that over 70% of U.S. softwood lumber imports come from Canada and about 71% of drywall's raw ingredients come from Mexico, both facing a proposed 25% tariff one estimate pegged as adding 4 to 6% to construction costs.

What the Tariff Primer Told Asheville Builders

The proposed 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports land on two materials central to construction costs, the presenter said. More than 70% of U.S. softwood lumber imports come from Canada, and roughly 71% of drywall's raw ingredients come from Mexico.

One presented estimate put the hit at 4 to 6% added to construction costs, roughly $17,000 to $22,000 on a project priced around $422,000, though the presenter called the number suspect. The presenter then had the room discuss and vote by QR code on how the tariffs would affect construction over five years.

Deal First, Money Second

Every panelist agreed the deal is harder to find than the money. Asked how much of the day goes to hunting money versus hunting deals, one panelist put it simply: there is a lot of money out there, so the real work is finding deals.

Katie Ciochetti pushed back gently on doing that cold. Bigger lenders, she said, want to see 7 to 10 deals under your belt before they feel safe, and many run credit checks like a mortgage company, so a relationship built before you need money matters. Teresa Karnezis named the real obstacle for beginners: "I think the biggest misconception is um, fear. So many people are afraid to ask for money." She recalled her own start: "why would anyone lend me money? I don't know what I'm doing." Her fix was a written plan covering the interest she was willing to pay and how the lender would get paid back, ready to hand over the moment someone showed interest.

Types of Lenders and Staying in Touch

Big-box commercial lenders carry the lowest rates but come with more friction to work with, panelists said, for that pricing. That tracks with Katie Ciochetti's point that institutional lenders often want to see 7 to 10 deals under your belt before they feel safe; one panelist cited ease and speed for preferring private lenders.

Private, smaller commercial lenders were the sweet spot for speed. One panelist financed a 10-unit apartment building through Heritage private lending about six weeks before the panel, buying the property from a wholesaler he met through AVLmeetup, and admitted he had gone quiet since closing and owed them more updates. Family money, he noted, is fast and easy to get but personal to lose; his father funded his early deals. Teresa Karnezis keeps her 5 private lenders in the loop with regular emails, calling communication the key to the relationship. Katie Ciochetti's version is simpler: pay on the terms you agreed to, and pay early when you can.

Questions

If you had to start over today with no money or connections, how would you find and fund your first deal? Teresa Karnezis said she would go back to networking, the way she funded her first deal after striking up a conversation with another investor, from Wilmington, while both were touring the same property; he ended up funding the whole thing. One panelist pointed to the room itself, citing three people who met at AVLmeetup and pooled resources for their first flip. Katie Ciochetti added that finding a mentor willing to let you be a sponge sets a beginner up fastest.
How do you find good contractors and subs? Word of mouth was the unanimous answer for licensed trades, since everyone eventually finds good subs after learning from bad ones. Teresa Karnezis built her original list at the Lowe's Pro Services desk, a tactic from the Fortune Builders program, asking staff who was busy and reliable until she found her handyman and tile installer there.
What was the most creative deal you've done? Katie Ciochetti bought an apartment building, seller-financed about three-quarters of it with a junior loan covering the rest, converted it to condos in roughly six weeks, and sold three units to pay off the deal while keeping one. Teresa Karnezis pointed back to her 7-lender project as her own answer to the same question.
What mistakes did you make when seeking financing, and what did you learn? Katie Ciochetti said she badly underbudgeted early rehabs, coming out of pocket so often that some deals nearly could not close, until she learned to front-load her draw schedule. One panelist had a lender offer favorable rates, string him along, then pull out near the finish line, forcing a scramble with a backup lender. Teresa Karnezis said her early mistake was not structuring draws to fit her own optimism about timelines.
What's the biggest misconception about raising money? Teresa Karnezis named fear outright, the assumption no one would want to lend to a first-timer. One panelist framed the flip side: lenders are trying to make money off your work, not doing you a favor, so more people will lend than beginners expect.

The night closed with a nod to two market tools: the Ruiz Report for market reports and training videos, and REMC.co for live MLS analytics. AVLmeetup's next meetup, on April 1, 2025, was AVL's Laws of Attraction.