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The EASY Hard Money Loan Process

What is the process to get a hard money loan?

Wondering what the hard money loan application is like?

It’s of the utmost importance that all borrowers understand the loan process for getting hard money loans.

Having a basic understanding of this will help you speed through the process and ensure you have the ability to close quickly and get the funds in the seller’s hands before your closing date. 

There is nothing difficult or especially unique in the way hard money loans are issued here in Jacksonville or anywhere else for that matter, but understanding the process is important. 

Rest assured our team of experts will guide you through each step of the hard money loan application process, but being prepared can make the process even faster and more efficient. 

The Hard Money Loan Application Process

A borrower typically starts with a call to our team of hard money lending professionals based here in Jacksonville. You will then run us through the general details of the investment or business opportunity.  At this stage we normally can indicate if we have an interest in funcing the deal and continuing the process. 

Deal Overview and Deal Underwriting Review

As the person or business wanting the loan, it is advisable at this stage that you are ready and able to talk about the key elements of the deal, regardless of whether it’s a hard money construction loan, land deal or a flx n flip.

We will want to know details  such as where the property is located, what the asking price is, whether you think it’s negotiable, an outline of your rehab plans and associated costs, at what price you think you can sell it for (having recent comps here are a good idea) and finally, have a clear exit strategy. And a Plan B exit strategy. We prefer to know that lenders have multiple ways out of a deal and thus multiple means of paying back the loan.

Borrower Background

If this is your first time looking for private lenders for real estate or borrowing from Jacksonville Hard Money Lenders, we will want to learn a little more about you, your background, your experience in real estate and investing. This will be an informal conversation so don’t worry, we will ask you questions that you will be able to answer yourself. 

 

We will be particularly interested to learn about any prior experience in real estate investing and particularly as it pertains to the asset class you are seeking financing for (e.g. flx n flips, multifamily and so on). 

 

If on the other hand you have borrowed from us previously, we will pay closer attention to your lending history and the deal at hand with us than anything else at this stage.

 

Flexible Underwriting Standards

You probably have gathered by now that hard money lenders tend to have very flexible underwriting standards that take all of the above aspects into account with varying degrees of importance. This can make the whole process much faster and easier when comparing the loan process to a bank. Having said all of this, we still do ask all your information to be provided in a neat, professional and succinct fashion. And this is a standard request from all private money lenders for residential real estate, and for commercial real estate too.

The Underwriting

Given that speed is important in so many real estate transactions, hard money underwriters should be able to do a preliminary underwriting of your deal in 24 hours or less. 

This is the length of time that we almost always hit and generally when we do take longer than 24 hours, it is is because key information or documents were not provided. But don’t worry, we will tell you everything that you need to supply our team of underwriters with.  

The items that we will typically require from you do conduct the preliminary underwriting are;

    • A finished loan application
    • You much have the purchase contract for the property
    • A scope of work for rehab consisting of approximated timing and expenses.

Once we receive these documents, we may arrange an appraisal to inspect the property and seek to  align on the approximated After Repair Value. In some situations we won’t deem an appraisal necessary. 

During this procedure, our underwriters may ask you for additional paperwork about you and your investment deal, things such as your income, your general experience, value of your assets and credit history. 

Again, these factors do not carry as much weight in a financing decision as they do for a bank.

And finally, the underwriter then requires the information about the purchasing entity, such as the name and Employer Identification Number or EIN.  Once the underwriter has reviewed all of this documentation, they will be able to approve the loan and then schedule a closing

 

The Hard Money Loan Application Closing 

The hard money loan application closing generally occurs at a title company or at an attorney’s office. It’s important to know that during the closing of a hard money loan, 2 different transactions will take place. 

The first transaction will be the actual purchase of the property, and the second transaction will be the loan settlement. 

Given that the vast majority of the due-diligence will have been completed by this stage, the purchase side of things tends to be very straight-forward. 

As for the loan settlement, the borrower will be required to sign a range of loan documents. Exactly which documents might differ depending on how the deal is structured and what type of property it is, e.g. Fix n Flip, Multifamily etc. 

Examples of documents you can typically expect to sign include a mortgage, a personal guarantee, a note, a security agreement, an assignment of leases and in situations where the money is being loaned for a rehab project you will have to sign an investment affidavit to show that the property is actually an investment property and not owner-occupied.

If the deal is more complex, other documents might also need to be signed, but there wont be any surprises because any extra documents will just be a reflection of the way in which your particular deal is structured. 

As the hard money lender it is then on us to wire the funds-to-close to the title company or to your attorney, so that upon finalizing we get a “disbursement approval”. At which point the title company or the attorney will give the OK to send the funds to your bank account. 

 

Setting the Draw Schedule

For brand-new construction or rehab projects, the borrower will deal with the contractor to produce something called a “Draw Schedule”. 

Draw schedules are used throughout projects that include rehab and/or brand-new construction due to the fact that lenders don’t send all the loaned money in one lump-sum, but rather distribute a portion of the funds in phases that coincide with construction milestones. 

This draw schedule process is done for 2 primary reasons.

1. The first of which is to make sure the borrower is responsibly making use of the money to increase the value of the property and improve it in line with the construction plans presented to the hard money lender during the loan application process. 

2. The second reason is that a draw schedule helps a borrower follow their budget. This fact highlights the importance of having an accurate budget drawn up for the loan application.

At the point at which a borrower asks for a draw, we will then schedule an assessment to make sure progress is inline with our forecasts and if all looks good, the funds are usually wired within just a few days.

Because funds are not immediately delivered upon request, it’s important someone involved in the project is responsible for tracking expenses, money left in the bank and proper use of funds to stay in line with your budget.

 

Pay Back The Hard Money Lender

After you have put the money to use in the way you intended and planned to and the project is completed, it is then time to pay back your hard money loan. 

Whether you borrow from us or not, we strongly advise you to pay close attention to the terms of the hard money loan as certain lenders do charge a prepayment penalty, sometimes referred to as an “interest lock-out”. They do this so they can be guaranteed a specific amount of interest for a given period of time (We NEVER DO THIS).

The main thing we care about is being repaid, and allowing you the chance to move on to your next investment deal just as soon as you like and not have to worry about paying interest long after a project has been completed.

If on the other hand you have borrowed from us previously, we will pay closer attention to your lending history and the deal at hand with us than anything else at this stage. 

GET FUNDED

WHY CHOOSE THIS JACKSONVILLE ​HARD MONEY LENDER?

Loans from $50K - $50MM

Money in 7 days or Less
No Prepayment Penalty

Flip | Multi-family | Office | Land | Ground-Up

UP TO 85% LTV

Bad credit not a problem
Rates from 7.99%
0 – 36 months

“Real professional outfit throughout the entire process from my loan application to getting funded. All my questions were answered. I’m now in the middle of a multifamily rehab which we are looking to sell within 6 months. And we already have a new deal we need more hard money for.”  

Timothy R. - Multifamily Deal Sponsor

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“My husband and I were rejected by our local bank for financing for a fix and flip project on our street. A friend suggested Jacksonville Hard Money Lenders. They explained everything really clearly. I have no idea that hard money was actually better for us because of how fast we wanted to sell.

Samantha K. - First Time Flipper

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A typical one week process that is as straightforward as we are.

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