Hard Money can be a quick way to supply everything from residential homes, to industrial properties to new home building. I will not get into every aspect of hard money but I will offer you a general frame work that your mind can understand.
First of all a majority of hard money banks will allow you to finance up to 65% of the value of the house. If the loan is for rehab purposes, the lender will use the “after-repaired value” of the home as a frame of reference. I have seen occasions that went as high as 75% but 65% is the norm.
These loans are very situational and very flexible so there is a lot of space if the deal makes sense. It could be a set back if you are new to the game but fortunately that can usually be offset with sufficient reserves and a good plan of action.
Let’s look at an investor rehab loan to visualize how the numbers work.
Let’s say you came across a out dated and run down old house in a good neighborhood where homes sell for $100,000. The seller takes you through the home and you determine that it needs around $12,000 in work. You have gotten pre-qualified for a rehab loan and know you are wondering what is the maximum you should pay for the property.
To keep it simple for starters, you want to take $100k x 65% - loan costs - repair costs/holding costs = Purchase price. Loan costs, for hard money loans, run from 8-13% of the total loan amount. They are not cheap but it’s less money than you’ll disburse to a partner! For now we will assume costs of 10% and holding costs of $2,000. Given those numbers, you probably shouldn’t pay more than $45,000 for the home. If you decide to pay more, that just means more money out of your pocket to get the deal done.
Here are a few quick tips you can utilize to maximize the likelihood of being approved for hard money loans, in general:
1. The more equity in the home after the loan, the better, 2. The higher your credit score, the better 3. The more credit history you have, the better! 4. The more liquid assets you can show that you have personally or have guaranteed access to (lines of credit, partners, rich uncles. . .) the better 5. The more populated the area, the better 6. The faster the properties in that area sell, the better 7. The more solid the appraisal value, the better! A lot of hard money lenders like to use fire sale values as the basis point of the loan so don’t be shocked. This is definitely not the time to use stretched values.
All in all, this is a numbers game. Don’t get attached to a property if the numbers don’t make you money. Hard money lenders can be flexible but bring them a deal where the numbers don’t add up and it could cost you a crucial relationship for future investments. Credit doesn’t always matter but it does help, tremendously, if you can show good credit history.