Robert Goldstein

Birchwood Loans is a Tampa, Florida based financing company which specializes in providing affordable financing for people looking for loans and mortgages for home purchase, home improvement or investment loans. Robert Goldstein, the president of Birchwood Loans, developed the idea 15 years, after investing in real estate throughout Florida. Robert’s goal with Birchwood Loans, is to provide affordable financing without brokers. Loans without brokers reduces the cost of lending for the borrower. Birchwood Loans has provided financing for many clients throughout the years in Tampa and the State of Florida at a significantly reduced cost.

Where did the idea for Birchwood Loans come from?

I developed the idea as I experienced the real estate market in Tampa and Florida during my 30 years of investment. My dream is to make real estate investing possible for a broader spectrum of people throughout Florida including borrowers with bad credit. Bad credit should not make it impossible to get a mortgage and begin an investment career.

What does your typical day look like and how do you make it productive?

One of things I love about working at Birchwood Loans is that every day is different. I meet a variety of people and discuss with them their goals and dreams. I try to provide advice for real estate investment strategies in Tampa Florida for Birchwood Loan’s borrowers. The variety of the day keeps me productive because there is always a new challenge to overcome.

How do you bring ideas to life?

I am constantly learning in order to bring new ideas and techniques of financing. My goal is to provide my borrowers lower mortgage payments and lower overall costs. I try not to be confined by any pre-conceived methods using my alternative financing strategies.

What’s one trend that excites you?

When I started investing in real estate in Tampa Florida, only those with means could invest. Here at Birchwood Loans, we take pride in the fact that many of our borrowers have bad credit and can begin a new path.

What is one habit of yours that makes you more productive as an entrepreneur?

I am never blocked by the usual roadblocks: bad credit, employment difficulties and small businesses that have trouble showing income. At Birchwood Loans we always try to find a creative solution by providing alternative lending practices with our various products of mortgages and loans for bad credit borrowers.

What advice would you give your younger self?

Being open to new ideas, networking and learning as much as you can. In the lending and mortgage industry, regulations and lending practices are constantly evolving. Learn from everyone as you go: the roofer, the real estate agent, the title company and your mortgage provider.

Tell us something that’s true that almost nobody agrees with you on.

The building blocks at Birchwood Loans are ideas that few agree with. We try to make financing tailored to our borrowers’ needs even in cases of bad credit and self-employment. We believe that bad credit can be improved and that people can develop sound financial habits.

As an entrepreneur, what is the one thing you do over and over and recommend everyone else do?

In the early years of Birchwood Hard Money Tampa, I had difficulties in various aspects of the business because it had new concepts. Every week, at the end of the week, I would make a list and look back at the difficulties that we had experienced and tried to think of better ways we could have use to accomplish the task. These reviews, with an eye to improvement, helped me grow as an entrepreneur and helped Birchwood Loans reach its maximum capacity.

What is one strategy that has helped you grow your business?

At Birchwood Loans we are different than other mortgage lenders and mortgage brokers. In addition to providing low rates, no upfront costs, no application fees we listen to each borrower’s needs and tailor the loan to his exact situation. We provide free quotes and free consultation to anyone who calls us or reaches out through our website Birchwoodloans.com.

What is one failure you had as an entrepreneur, and how did you overcome it?

When I opened Birchwood Loans Tampa Florida, we had trouble converting our system to a fully automated and digitized method. This took time and effort to learn and implement. We are still working on improving this, but now at Birchwoodloans you can digitally access our mortgage rate quotations and get a quick response and quick financing.

What is one business idea that you’re willing to give away to our readers?

As a real estate investor and lender in Florida, my advice would be to carefully map your income and expenses and try to save at least 10% each year. With that money, I would slowly try to invest in a rental property and refinance the property through a hard money lender. Slow and steady is the name of the game.

What is the best $100 you recently spent? What and why?

I recently bought a rowing machine for the office. I have found that a lot of my best business ideas come during my exercise time.

What is one piece of software or a web service that helps you be productive?

In order to provide security for our borrowers and clients, we have digitized all our mortgage documents and have them secured in a cloud based automated system. This allows us to have access to any data we need at any time and in a quick manner.

What is the one book that you recommend our community should read and why?

“Building Wealth One House At a Time” by John Schaub provides an excellent blue print for every would-be real estate investor.

What is your favorite quote?

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get” by Warren Buffet.

Key Learnings:

• When creating meaningful one to one relationship with a borrower, you are creating a building block for the business.
• Lending to someone with bad credit is not a mistake, but an opportunity for the borrower to rebuild his/her credit.
• Clients appreciate transparency and full disclosure.
• Mentoring and networking are the keys for success for yourself and for your colleagues.