Gyroscopic Investing

i know somebody looking to get a second mortgage on a apartment complex for 30 + thousand at 8%, i haven't seriously considered it yet or done any real research, does anybody here have experience with holding second mortgages and have some incite into the ins and outs of this kind of investment? 

Are you thinking of providing their second mortgage, and collecting the 8%?  I would seriously not do this - the default risk is huge, and you have no collateral for a second mortgage.  Housing prices have nowhere to go but down in most of the country, at least until the employment situation improves.

i am not seriously considering it (my situation cant take this kind of risk even with a VP) but someone offered the investment to me and i am curious to learn about some of the ins and outs of this kind of investing, i wont be to surprised to find few here have experience with it because of the risk, i could go hunting for information elsewhere but i am mostly just satisfying curiosity...

because of location and it being an apartment complex not a house the value may not drop as much, but it would still be taking a gamble on the buildings value

There is a company called prosper.com that takes investment money and allows you to lend it out to people as unsecured debt - think people that couldn't qualify for credit otherwise.  They show great returns, but the problem is the default rate is 20% or higher.  Most investors lose their shirt.

I considered it for a few minutes until I googled "prosper.com scam" and found out how many investors had been ripped off.  Basically they allow you to spread risk by investing a small amount of money to tens or hundreds of different borrowers, but if 20% default, what kind of returns can you get?

I call those places "deadbeat lending":

https://web.archive.org/web/20160324133 ... t-lending/