Hard Money Loans - What's it all about?
Ever wondered about hard money lenders and when they should be used in your real estate investing? Well, here's the layman's guide to getting started with hard money loans. We'll begin by presenting the negative aspects of hard money but introduce the benefits towards the end... so read on.
Hard money lenders are experienced investors and require a good return on their investment. This often causes hard money loans to become a last resort for people investing in real estate. The interest rates can be quite high, making hard money loans an expensive option for funding your real estate deals.
Hard money lenders are third party lenders and unlike the big institutional lenders charge interest rates above market rates. Hard money lenders typically require 5-10 percentage points higher interest rates than private money or conventional lenders. Plus, hard money lenders will typically charge you "points" on a loan which is pre-paid interest thereby making this a rather expensive funding alternative.
Then, why use hard money loans?Well, hard money loans are normally around 65 to 70% of the ARV (after repair value) of the property. This is very important, as now you can get finance for all of the purchase price plus any rehab costs if your ARV is sufficiently higher - in other words, you can get into the deal with nothing down!
Another benefit or hard money loans is that instead of lending to you based on your creditworthiness or character, hard money lenders will lend based on the security of the loan. So, while you may get better rates elsewhere, the flexibility of hard money can make it a very attractive option for investors with poor credit or loan serviceability or even for those that don't have the time to wait for approval from conventional lenders.
So where do you find hard money lenders? The first place to look is in the "money to lend" section of your local newspaper. The second would be at a meeting of your local real estate investing association. Local hard money lenders will often attend to solicit new business. Finally, don't forget to check online - just search for "hard money lenders" or "hard money loans".
There are several things to know when considering hard money lenders for your real estate transactions. First are some cons to hard money loans, the largest of which is that hard money will be leant to you at a much higher rate than prevalent from other lenders, typically 5-10% higher. They may also charge 'points' on the loan to ensure that they make a good return on it. There are pros to hard money lending as well, typically these types of loan are much easier to obtain and rely less on creditworthiness and more on the security of the loan, so hard money is much more flexible.
Published May 18th, 2007
Filed in Real Estate