In this guide, I’ll tell you about all the events and conferences which are focused on private mortgage lending (aka hard money lending or bridge lending). I’ll also provide an overview of each event organizer and insights about their conferences.
2024 Private Lending Events
March 6-8, 2024
California Mortgage Association Spring Conference
Hyatt Regency, Monterey, CA
March 7-9, 2024
National Private Lenders Association Conference
Lowes, Miami Beach, FL
April 11-12, 2024
Innovate by Geraci Conferences
VEA, Newport Beach, CA
May 30, 2024
Private Lender Expo
Antuns, Queens, NY
June 19-20, 2024
NLE Leverage L.A.
Sheraton, Los Angeles, CA
June 23-25, 2024
National Private Lenders Conference
Hard Rock, Atlantic City, NJ
August 19-20, 2024
Captivate by Geraci Conferences
Wynn, Las Vegas, NV
September 11-13, 2024
California Mortgage Association Fall Conference
Balboa Bay Resort, Newport Beach, CA
November 10-11, 2024
American Association of Private Lenders 15th Annual Conference
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV
2023 Private Lending Events
November 12-13, 2023
American Association of Private Lenders 14th Annual Conference
Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, NV
October 15-17, 2023
National Private Lenders Association Conference
Fairmont Hotel, Austin, TX
October 4-5, 2023
National Lending Experts
Hilton West Palm, West Palm Beach, FL
September 27-29, 2023
California Mortgage Association Fall Conference
Mission Bay Resort, San Diego, CA
August 24-25, 2023
Captivate by Geraci Conferences
Encore, Las Vegas, NV
June 22-23, 2023
National Lending Experts
InterContinental Hotel, San Diego, CA
June 19-21, 2023
National Private Lenders Association Conference
Hard Rock Hotel, Atlantic City, NJ
June 15, 2023
Private Lender Expo
Hilton Garden Inn, Staten Island, NY
April 17-18, 2023
Innovate by Geraci Conferences
Balboa Bay Resort, Newport Beach, CA
March 26-28, 2023
57th Pitbull Conference & NPLA Golf Tournament
Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, Miami, FL
March 8-10, 2023
California Mortgage Association Spring Conference
Hyatt Regency, Newport Beach, CA
Click the links to visit the website for each event. When you register or contact the event organizers, please tell them you learned about their event on PrivateLenderLink.com.
Private Lending Event Organizers
There are 6 companies that organize and host private lending conferences:
- National Private Lenders Conference
- American Association of Private Lenders
- Geraci Conferences
- California Mortgage Association
- Private Lender Expo
- National Lending Experts
National Private Lenders Conference
This event has been running for over 20 years and has the largest audience in our industry. The National Private Lenders Conferences are extremely professional, and they attract most of the biggest players in our industry. They take place in exclusive luxury resorts 3 times a year. Miami has been the venue for their Spring conference from 2018 to 2023. The Fall conference took place in Austin in 2020 and 2021. I have attended most of their events since 2018 and don’t plan to miss any of them moving forward.
The conference was founded by Leonard Rosen and was formerly named the Pitbull Conference. The company was acquired by Jonathan Hornik / Private Lender Law in November 2022 and renamed to the National Private Lenders Association Conference in March 2023.
In 2019, Rosen founded the National Private Lenders Association (NPLA) which was also included in the acquisition. The association is now fully integrated with the conference, but not all conference attendees are members of the organization. The NPLA typically hosts a golf or poker tournament, dinner, and other events the day before the conference, but only for members. So the conference is typically on a Monday or Tuesday, and there’s always a big cocktail party the night before. If you attend the NPLA member-only events, it would end up being a total of 3 days.
American Association of Private Lenders
Next up is the American Association of Private Lenders, also known as “A.A.P.L.” and some people call it “apple.” This organization was established in 2010 and has always hosted just one annual conference in the Fall, but it’s one of the best private lending events. I’ve heard some call it “The Superbowl of Private Lending.” It always takes place at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas close to Veterans Day in November. This is one of my favorite conferences. It was the very first private lending conference I ever attended, back in 2013, and I have not missed any since then. The AAPL conference is always a two and a half day event. Day 1 has education all day, which is optional, plus a welcome reception at night. Day 2 is a full day, and Day 3 typically ends around noon.
Geraci Conferences
The AAPL was founded by Anthony Geraci of Geraci LLP, a law firm in Southern California. Geraci maintains a minority ownership stake in the association, and his firm is still the general counsel for the association, but he created a media division and began hosting their own conferences around 2017. Being one of the largest law firms serving the private lending industry, Geraci LLP has a huge rolodex of clients who frequent their events. Their conferences draw some unique guests and speakers who don’t typically attend other industry events. They currently host 2 conferences per year which I feel are quite amazing. Innovate is a one-day event in the Spring in Southern California, and Captivate is a one and a half day conference which takes place in Las Vegas in either late August or early September. Both have epic cocktail parties the night before the conference. Geraci uses the Brella app which helps attendees match with the right people and schedule 15-minute meetings at a designated area in the exhibit hall. The entire Geraci staff, including the attorneys, is a fun group of people with a very positive vibe. I have attended most of the Geraci Conferences since early 2018.
California Mortgage Association
The next event organizer on the list is the only one out of the six that has a regional focus (the others are national events). The California Mortgage Association, commonly known as “CMA”, was established in 1999, and is focused on providing education and advocacy to private mortgage lenders. Since California has many mortgage and real estate regulations, their events are typically filled with educational sessions and therefore have been called “seminars” even though they offer a lot of networking as well. Pre-COVID, they hosted four conferences per year – two in Southern California, one in Northern California, and one in Las Vegas. In 2022, they are hosting 3 live conferences and may have some regional events in between. The schedule for these events have been fairly consistent – two full days on Thursday and Friday, plus a welcome reception on Wednesday night. I have attended most of the CMA seminars since 2017, and I currently chair the organization’s Marketing Committee.
Private Lender Expo
The Private Lender Expo is the only industry event which I have not attended as of mid-2023. A few people in the industry have shared with us some positive feedback about their December conferences. These events are typically held in New York, New Jersey, or Miami. When they started a few years ago, their events only lasted a few hours. The last two have been one full day. In 2022, both of their conferences will took place in New Jersey – one in June, and another in December. One other thing to note is Private Lender Expo is the only private lending conference that does not currently charge a registration fee to attendees. The other conferences cost anywhere from $500 to $1,200 to attend.
National Lending Experts
The last event organizer on the list, National Lending Experts (NLE), is fairly new. They started out in 2021 with 3 conferences. All of them were one full day with a sponsored cocktail party the night before. The first was in Scottsdale in February 2021. In May, it was in Dallas, and September was San Diego. NLE went back to Scottsdale in February 2022 and had a golf tournament the day before the conference, hosted & organized by 2 sponsors. I attended the last three NLE’s, and all were excellent events. NLE always gets some big name speakers for their panels, and I’ve heard positive feedback from other attendees about the sessions and content. They also attract people that I don’t see at other industry conferences. NLE uses the Brella app which helps attendees match with the right people and schedule 15-minute meetings at a designated area in the exhibit hall.
None of the event organizers have paid to be mentioned here, and they don’t give us a free ticket to attend or sponsor their events. I feel they offer an extremely valuable service which is vital to our business and everyone in the private lending industry, so I’m glad to support them by spreading the word about their events. And selfishly, more people attending these events means more potential networking opportunities for me. Another thing to disclose is I’m a member of all 3 trade associations mentioned here – NPLA, AAPL, and CMA.
There are lots of other conferences focused on additional sectors of the real estate industry which I have attended and keep on our radar every year, including ones for residential property investing, commercial real estate, alternative investments, note investing, and business finance. I set up a Google Spreadsheet to list all industry events and keep it updated frequently. Reach out if you’d like access to that or if you want additional insights on any particular conference.
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