In a live interview at the LeverageCon real‑estate expo in Dallas, host Toby Potter (Global Integrity Finance) talks with Jason Miller, co‑founder of Corridor Funding, about the hard‑money lending landscape and the three warning signs investors should watch for. Miller explains how Corridor Funding grew from a local lender in Texas (Dallas, San Antonio, Austin) to a near‑nationwide lender, excluding only low‑population states like Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas. The conversation delves into the company’s loan products—fix‑and‑flip, DSCR, and ground‑up construction— and emphasizes that underwriting is driven primarily by the operator’s character, work ethic, and transparency rather than just property metrics. They stress a partnership mindset, avoiding loan‑to‑own models, and aim for a three‑way win (borrower, lender, end‑user). Miller shares practical advice on evaluating deals, managing timelines and contractors, and warns against lenders who fund deals without caring about borrower success. Both hosts discuss current interest‑rate expectations, noting that rates are unlikely to drop below 6% soon, and stress the importance of financing as an integral part of the overall deal. The interview concludes with contact information for Corridor Funding (corridorfunding.com, phone 214‑274‑5210) and a strong endorsement from Potter, highlighting integrity and relationship‑focused lending.
Chapters
Hey everybody, Toby Potter here with Global Integrity Finance. We are here in Dallas today at the LeverageCon real estate expo, and I'm telling you, if you could just pan this camera around, this place is packed. It's full. We've got vendors here that are hard money lenders, private equity lenders, appraisers, attorneys doing the docs. I mean, if you're in real estate investing, this is the expo you should have been at. If you're not here, you missed it. But right here, right now, we have the honor and the privilege of meeting with my good friend Jason Miller with Corridor Funding. And this guy, I've known— I've known you for 10 years.
Yeah, about 10 years.
10 years. And I'm telling you, there's not— and I'm not bragging because you're, you're here with me, I will tell this to everybody, and I've told everybody, he is one of the most stand-up, the most nicest, honest guys I've ever met in this industry. And so, like I said, it's an honor and privilege to have you here today. Take it away, Jason. Tell me about CORDOR and how you got into this thing and how long you've been in it.
All right, Toby. Well, first of all, thank you. That was very kind of what you said. I feel the same way about you and your operation.
Thank you.
It speaks for itself. Uh, I got into this business in 2016, and, uh, had, had never been in this business, had sold an oilfield services company and, but always had some interactions with real estate. So it, it made sense. And it's been a, it's been a fun ride, Toby. You know, I learned in undergrad real estate class, my first real estate class, that real estate is a local game. And I feel that way about hard money. At least that's how we started out, very local. And as you learn more—
now you're down in Austin, right?
We're in San Antonio, kind of in between Austin and San Antonio.
Yes, sir.
Yeah, you're in between those two cities. That's right. And we started out primarily lending in Dallas, where my family's from, and I was born in San Antonio. And as we grew and understood and learned about more markets and our clients grew to other markets, we expanded with them as well. But we definitely started out as kind of a local lending company.
Right, right, sir. So you got out of the oil business, got into hard money lending, was doing it local between San Antonio and Austin, and now you guys are nationwide.
We're pretty much nationwide. Yes, sir. We don't lend in Arizona and Nevada, a few, a few states, but we can lend everywhere. We don't necessarily market. We've got a strategized marketing strategy. So we're kind of down, kind of across the belt of the United States, right? As far as Utah. And yes, sir, that's kind of where we're focusing now.
Yeah, I always— when people ask me, you know, are you nationwide? And I said, we're nationwide, but we don't do Montana, Wyoming, North South Dakota. And here's the reason: if there's more trees or cattle than people, we're out. Yes, that's kind of, you know, the, the— to make it simple, why won't we lend there? Well, because there's too many trees, too many cattle, not enough people to be moving in and out, to be turning over real estate. So days on the market is longer, valuation is not there. Um, when you're, when you're evaluating the deal, Jason, um, tell me kind of what the, the process is when, when a broker or a client brings you a deal. What do you guys look for and how do you matrix that thing out?
Yeah, that's a good question, Toby. I am most interested personally in the operator.
Okay.
You know, are they a stand-up person? What has been their trend of success? You know, we all make mistakes. I have been through ups and downs, but how do they handle it? And yeah, what does that trend look like? I'm looking for transparent folks. You know, that's one of our unique selling points. We strive to be transparent with our borrowers, and I'm looking for a, like a partnership, if you will, who will be transparent with me as issues arise. You know, we are certainly not a loan-to-own shop. We try not to own. We want to invest and support their growth and success, and that's why I consider it a partnership. So I want to know about the operator. Yeah. And I have no problem with inexperienced operators. But I'm going to want to see what they have done in other industries, or if they're young, uh, prior jobs or, or college or whatever they have been doing. We're looking for people with work ethic, uh, who, who want a good partner that's got a good work ethic and trustworthy.
So you're looking at more of a character reference— am I willing to invest in this guy based upon how they've carried themselves in the past?
Yes sir, yes sir.
And that's a great, great baseline when you're looking at the properties, you know. Now let me ask you this before we get into that. Are you big in fix and flips, DSCRs, ground-up construction? What's your sweet spot?
So we're about 50/50 at different times in both of those.
Both of those.
It could be 60% fix and flip or RTL, 40% DSCR, and it can revert to the opposite.
I gotcha. So just depending upon how the clientele's rolling in and what's coming up.
That's right.
Yeah.
And rates for DSR.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yes, sir.
So we're hoping— and, and I was just in that panel earlier with you guys, we're talking— it doesn't look like that the general concession of all those guys that are smarter than you and I, that rates are coming down anytime soon.
That's kind of what I, what I heard from my heart.
I left, I started crying because I was in the mindset and understanding maybe in the next 90 days to 6 months we're going to see rates hit below 6%. But after listening to those guys who, like I said, been in the business a lot longer than you and I, hell of a lot smarter than me, probably not as smart as you, but they, they were like, no, we don't see it happen anytime soon, right?
Yeah, that's, that's what I heard, Toby. But I'll share a little trade secret. All right, as long as you don't tell anybody.
All right, we won't tell anybody. So we're going to bleep this part out. We're going to have a conversation. My, my, my crew's going to bleep this out, but go ahead.
So in that mastermind, I shared that, uh, I don't really seek to, like, we don't strive to work with people that are all about the rate.
Right.
You know, I processed payroll this morning and I did not have the luxury of only processing if, uh, wages were trending downward or upward.
Right.
You know, it is an input in my business and I strive, this is a trade secret, I strive to work with investors that see financing as one It's an important input, but one of many variables in the real estate business. You know, I have always, I believe, and I tell our clients that, you know, I foresee that your biggest value adds to your real estate business are one, making offers, right? You make money in this space when you buy, right?
Right.
And two, I have seen many of our borrowers get skinned up and I've been skinned up in my real estate investment by not properly and adequately managing the, the value-add process, the workmanship, the, the materials quality, the timelines. Yeah, right.
Yeah.
I mean, the timelines are so, so important. You're, you're putting out money in an investment, so you should be seeking to monetize that as efficiently as you can.
Right. Yes, sir. Yeah. And that's, that's awesome that you, you go that deep into it. When we, when we got into it, when we first started, one of the things that really upset me, Jason, And I've separated myself from those lenders. But we would have long-term clients come to us. Well, we— and when I say long-term, we were barely starting. We did 2, 3, 4, 5 deals back to back to back to back with them. And then they would bring us a deal and I'd say, no, I just, I just don't see it. And what they do, they'd go somewhere else and get it funded.
Yeah.
And I'm like, and then 6 months later, hey Toby, I'm upside down. I, you know, they— and I'm like, yeah, because that deal didn't work 6 months ago, it's not going to work today. But what made me so mad was there was no integrity in the lender loaning that money, is that they didn't care whether that client succeeded or not. All they cared about was issuing funds.
Yes, sir.
And you and I have been on the same cloth of it's all about relationship. It's all about success. It's all about growing that individual's platform. Whether we lend you money or not. I tell people, I tell more people no than I do yes. And I'm sure you do too.
We do.
Because especially now margins are thin. Properties aren't as readily available. Good deals aren't readily available as they were. So people are bringing this stuff because they're emotionally hungry.
That's right.
They need to do a deal. They want to do a deal. They think they've got a deal. When we analyze it without the emotion, like, ah, you're going to lose your ass on it.
Yeah.
And so, but it does, you know, I go back to what you were saying about the financing has to be an integral part of the whole deal, how that rolls out. How that makes you money if you do it right. And if people don't understand that, they get mad at us. But I'd rather you be mad, not losing your shirt.
That's right.
Than happy and losing everything that you had.
No, you're right, Toby. And, you know, I agree, you and I are cut from the same cloth. You know, I know Mrs. Angie Potter, your company, and I've seen you act. I've looked up to your company. You were here before I. And so we have watched you. And you and I both view this business as not a zero-sum game. We want there to be at least 3 winners in every loan that we do. That's our borrower, us, of course, you know, we gotta keep paying our employees, the bank.
Yeah.
And, uh, the end user.
Yes.
And when I first got in this business in 2016, it seemed to be such a zero-sum game from the lender's, uh, lender's perspective. And back what I had mentioned earlier, you know, I don't believe you or I are a loan-to-own shop, but I do believe that there are people, are operations out there where that's their business model.
They don't care.
Yeah, they don't care. They don't care. And, you know, I, I couldn't sleep that well at night if that was—
I couldn't either—
my business model. But it's out there and it, it works for some people, you know.
And I'll tell you, we've, we've been— I don't say bullied, but, but pressured into doing a deal because we want it to be the go-to for that client.
Yes, sir.
And we've done a deal and then I've regretted it.
Yes.
And then, and here's the deal, I don't do business with that guy anymore because the deal went south. And I'd probably still have that friendship and that relationship if I had just said no, but I wanted to be the guy that they always came to, so I made an exception. The deal went south, they lost their ass, we had to foreclose, we're now the bad guy, and now we have no more relationship. So I've said no more. I don't care. And we've stuck to that. But early on when we were growing, I always wanted to be the guy that was the hero and grow and build your book of business. And every now and then there'd be one a little bit thin or maybe even not even. And we said yes a couple of times and regretted it 100%. And I won't ever do it because I didn't sleep good on those.
No, I've been in the same boat. And I'll tell you most recently how I justified it. You know, you get to a certain point our borrowers where you need to keep the machine running, right?
Yes.
You may not have many deals with a lot of fat, but hey, I've got a great crew, uh, and contractors. And you and I both know that's one of your biggest—
Oh, it's the biggest asset.
You're a real estate investor, but you got to keep them busy or they're going to go work for your competitor or somebody else.
And then when you find a deal, they're nowhere to be found.
That's right.
I got a deal ready to go. Where's my contractors? Well, they took other jobs.
I have funded some of those deals to help them out. And in hindsight, Toby, after doing an after-action report, I realized I should have advised them, hey, the market has changed.
Yes.
Cut down on your overhead. Let maybe let some of the guys go that aren't, aren't as strong and hire them back when you pick up again.
Right.
And that's one thing I've learned fairly recently. Yeah.
Well, Jason, how does our audience find you?
Uh, w, uh, corridorfunding.com is our webpage.
Okay.
And, um, they can give me a call, 214-274-5210. And we've got numbers for the primary. So you can call any of the numbers. But, you know, on our web page, we've got numbers.
And so go to CordorFunding.com, look up Jason. I'm telling you, out of the hundreds of lenders that I know, this guy is at the very top of my list as friends, buddies, integrity. I'm telling you, if I ever close shop, I'm going to work for this guy. I'm going to— he's not going to hire me, but I'm going to go work for him for free. I'd hire you because I love this guy. Jason, thank you so much for being here today. Appreciate it.
Thanks for the invitation, Toby. It's always good to see you, my friend.
