As a hard money lender, I often get asked how to use hard money in a seller finance transaction. In this article I will explain two possible scenarios you may come across when using hard money in a seller financing deal. With the right knowledge and funding sources, using hard money in seller financing transactions can be done successfully.

Seller financing can be an attractive option for buyers and sellers of real estate alike, especially when a seller has motivation, a low interest rate mortgage, or a lot of equity. Seller financing can allow real estate investors to purchase or control real estate investments without the need to take out a traditional mortgage loan from a bank. Meanwhile, sellers benefit by getting a higher asking price and earning additional income.

But here’s the thing. Most sellers want you to bring in a down payment on a seller finance transaction. This is the part where many real estate investors don’t know how to proceed because they don’t have cash for a down payment.

Hard money loans are used by real estate investors to fund real estate purchases, so why can’t you use hard money in seller financing deals? Understanding how hard money loans work in seller finance transactions is an essential lesson for newbie real estate investors. Keep reading because I am about to give you a crash course for how to use hard money in seller financing deals.

Using Hard Money Loans in Wrap-Around Mortgage Transactions

A real estate investor offering to purchase a property from a seller may ask if the seller is willing to finance the purchase. When a seller has an existing loan on a property, the seller may offer financing through the existing loan already in place. This type of seller financing is often called a “wrap-around mortgage” because it allows a buyer to control a property while using the seller as the lender. In this scenario, the seller is able to finance the purchase for the real estate investor at a higher interest rate than the interest rate on the underlying loan on the property. This means the real estate investor is able to purchase the property without having to get a bank loan.

However, most sellers want to see a down payment from the buyer of anywhere between 5% to 20% of the purchase price. You can get a hard money loan for the down payment to the seller, however, it needs to be funded by a hard money lender that is willing to take a “junior lien” position behind the seller’s first mortgage. If you go to a hard money lender to request down payment funds on a seller financing deal with a wrap around mortgage, you will be asking for a 3rd position mortgage loan. If this is confusing for you, it will make more sense once you learn how to structure a seller financing deal with a wrap-around mortgage.

Wrap-around Mortgage Example

Let’s consider an example. You find a property listed for $300,000 that isn’t selling and it has been sitting on the market for a long time. So you approach the seller with a full price offer of $300,000, but only if the seller is able to offer seller financing. The seller has a first mortgage loan on the property and wants 10% down payment from you, or $30,000.

You don’t have the down payment of $30,000 so you will need to find a hard money lender that is willing to enter into a junior mortgage position behind the seller’s first mortgage in order to provide that 10%. This means there are three loans. The seller’s existing mortgage is in a first position and the seller’s financed loan is in a 2nd position, wrapped around the existing first mortgage. Then you have the down payment funds from your hard money lender for $30,000 in a 3rd position. This means the hard money lender is in a junior lien position, or a subordinate position to the other financing.

Many hard money lenders won’t go in a junior lien position. This makes it more of a challenge to get the down payment funds from a hard money lender on a seller financed deal with a wrap around mortgage. But there are always hard money lenders out there that will lend in a junior lien position, even though some of them won’t!

What if a Seller Does Not Have a Mortgage?

In this scenario, you approach a seller to purchase a property with seller financing and you discover that there is not a loan on the property. The seller will ask for a down payment, but you don’t have the down payment funds. You may get a hard money lender to loan you the down payment funds to give to the seller. However, the hard money lender will usually want a first mortgage position where the seller’s financing takes a junior position.

Most sellers won’t take a 2nd mortgage position behind your hard money lender, but some sellers will, if it’s a small amount. In this case you can offer your hard money lender a 1st mortgage position with the seller carrying the remainder of the financing in a 2nd mortgage position.

However, if your seller will not take a 2nd mortgage position behind your hard money lender, then you will need to find a hard money lender that is willing to go in a second position behind the seller financing loan.

Let’s consider the same example that we used before. You find a property listed for $300,000 that isn’t selling and has been sitting on the market for a long time. So you approach the seller with a full price offer of $300,000, but only if the seller is able to offer seller financing. The seller does not have a first mortgage loan on the property but the seller wants a 10% down payment from you, or $30,000, in order to seller finance the purchase.

You don’t have the down payment of $30,000, so you will need to find a hard money lender to loan you the down payment funds. You will need a seller that is willing to enter into a second mortgage position behind the hard money lender’s first mortgage. Or, you will need to find a hard money lender that is willing to go into a second mortgage position behind the seller financing. Most hard money lenders will insist on a first mortgage position so it would be easier to find a seller that is willing to go in a second position behind the hard money lender. However, if your seller is unwilling to go into a second position behind the hard money lender then you need to find a hard money lender that is willing to go into a second position behind the seller financing.

Qualifying for a Hard Money Loan

Hard money loans are considered to be much easier to qualify for than traditional bank financing. However, even hard money lenders need certain information from borrowers in order to make an informed decision. Submitting a loan to a hard money lender is easier than you may think. Check out this article where we explain how to make loan submissions to hard money lenders to get a yes or no answer quickly.

Negotiating Terms on Hard Money Loans

When applying for a hard money loan, it’s important to be aware that there may be room to negotiate the terms of the loan. While traditional banks often have inflexible terms, hard money lenders tend to be more flexible on the terms of the loan. This includes flexibility on interest rates, fees, and extension options.

Potential Pitfalls of Seller Finance Transactions

Seller finance transactions can provide buyers a way to purchase properties without having to obtain loans to do so. However, it’s important to be aware of the potential pitfalls involved with such transactions. These risks include: the seller may be behind on loan payments, the seller may have liens on the property, or there may be a divorce in process that is not disclosed by the seller.

Legal Aspects of Seller Finance Transactions

When engaging in a seller finance transaction, both the buyer and seller should be aware of the legal implications. This includes understanding the rights and responsibilities associated with each party, as well as any potential liabilities that might arise during the course of the loan. Each state has its own set of laws and regulations regarding seller finance transactions, it’s important to familiarize yourself with the rules in your jurisdiction before entering into any agreement. This includes information on things like maximum loan amounts, required disclosures, and licensing requirements.

An experienced real estate attorney can provide guidance and help ensure that everyone involved is protected by creating a solid, legal contract. Whatever money you spend on a good real estate attorney is worth every penny to make sure you are getting into a good deal, with a binding contract, that won’t come back to bite you!

Structuring Financing to Meet Your Needs

When financing a seller financed purchase with a hard money loan, it’s important to carefully consider the terms of the loan in order to structure the financing in a way that meets your needs. This includes understanding what types of loans are available, as well as the repayment terms and interest rates associated with each option. It’s also important to consider any potential tax implications of taking out a loan.

Conclusion

Seller financing can allow real estate investors to purchase investment properties without the need to take out traditional bank loans. Getting access to a down payment in a seller financing transaction should not deter a real estate investor from engaging in these deals. If you understand how to use hard money loans correctly to source a down payment, you can make a seller financing deal work for all parties involved.

What does BRRRR mean?

“Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat,” is a new initialism to describe a classic, real estate investment strategy. Savvy real estate investors have been employing this investment strategy for a very long time, so the concept of BRRRR is nothing new or innovative. But its importance to building a real estate portfolio cannot be understated.

When done correctly, a BRRRR can be an excellent way to build wealth over time from your real estate portfolio. In this article, we’ll explore why funding for a BRRRR is the fastest and easiest when funded with a hard money loan. We will also consider some pitfalls that should be avoided when funding a BRRRR purchase with hard money loans.

To cover the basics super quick here, the initialism, BRRRR, is a method that is described as follows:

Buy: Identify the property you want to purchase and buy it using a hard money loan.

Rehab: Renovate the property as needed .

Rent: Get the property rented.

Refinance: Refinance the hard money loan used for the purchase with a long-term, 30-year mortgage. By refinancing the current loan with a lower interest rate loan, called a “cash-out refinance,” you can take out a slightly larger loan against the property than what is currently owed to the hard money lender. These “cash-out” proceeds from the cash-out refinance loan serve as the down payment used to buy another rental property using a hard money loan.

Repeat: Do it all over again so you can buy more rental properties to add to your real estate portfolio.

Why Buy a BRRRR with Hard Money?

It can be difficult to find a bank loan if you don’t have experience with a BRRRR, in fact, most traditional mortgage companies are unfamiliar with BRRRRs. Using a hard money loan to buy a BRRRR can be a great way to get started in the world of real estate investing if you don’t have the credit, or if you don’t have experience. Many hard money lenders will lend to borrowers with bad credit, some do not require income documentation, and still others will lend to real estate investors with no experience. With a hard money loan, you still may need to bring in a solid downpayment in most cases.

Another challenge that people face is getting a bank loan quick enough to be able to purchase the property. Particularly in a competitive market with lots of investor buyers, a bank loan can be too slow to compete with cash offers. In a sellers market for example, realtors are usually very selective about who they work with and won’t consider offers that are not cash offers.

A hard money lender can get you pre-approved to buy investment properties in advance of making any offers. Because hard money funding is so fast, it is similar to an all cash offer.

How to buy a BRRRR with Hard Money

When it comes to buying a BRRRR investment property with hard money, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. It’s important to note that, even though a hard money lender may not care about poor credit, not everyone will be approved for a loan. Make sure you know what the lender’s requirements are, and make sure you meet those requirements, before you apply. For example, some lenders will require prior real estate investing experience, while other lenders will lend to beginners. Understanding the various requirements of different hard money lenders will help you decide which ones you should pursue for a loan.

Shopping Around for a Lender

There are many, different hard money lenders out there that you can go to for financing, but it’s important to do your research first. Make sure you know which lenders are real and reputable first, by searching for every piece of information you can find about the lenders online and reading each of their online reviews. There are a lot of loan scams in which fake lenders pose as real lenders, just to scam you out of money.

If you can, get recommendations from other people in your target market who have successfully purchased BRRRRs using hard money loans. Make sure you search the lender’s name on search engines, check on sites like Ripoffreport.com and the BBB website, and look for “real” online reviews (it’s pretty easy to spot the fake ones). And then make sure you are comparing “apples to apples” when comparing among hard money lenders. For example, how fast can a lender fund and a lender’s appraisal requirements are two considerations when comparing among hard money lenders.

Providing Documentation
Hard money lenders differ greatly on what type of documentation each will require in order to fund your deal. Some lenders have almost no documentation, while others require a lot of documentation to get a loan. Do your research and make sure you know what the lender is looking for before you apply. This will make it easier, and much faster, to get the funding you need to purchase a BRRRR property.

What the Lender is Looking for
Lenders want to know that the property you are buying is in a desirable area where potential tenants want to live. All lenders prefer experienced borrowers, but that doesn’t mean that lenders won’t make loans to beginners.

And then there’s the property value. Because the property is the lender’s collateral for the loan, value is a very important consideration for a lender. Is the property worth what you’re paying? Or will you have to increase rents in order to achieve the property valuation you will need to do your refinance?

Many banks require a seasoning period, which is a period of time you must own a property before you can refinance your hard money loan with a long term mortgage. After the seasoning period ends banks require an appraisal to be performed and will only lend you a certain percentage of the appraised value. This is another reason why the property value is such an important consideration for both you and your hard money lender.

And, what if you don’t have a lot of cash to purchase a property? Despite the popular myth that you don’t need your own money to get started in real estate investing, yes, most lenders will require you to bring some money to the table. Even rehab lenders will still want you to show that you have enough liquidity to cover some of the repairs, or at a minimum, show you have enough cash to cover carrying costs.

How much cash does a lender require from a borrower? Some rehab lenders will require minimum borrower cash of 10-20% down of the total project cost if the property needs rehab. While many other lenders will only loan you a percentage of the purchase price for the property, usually between 70% to 90% of the purchase price.

Loan Denial for a BRRRR Purchase

In some instances, your loan might be denied by a hard money lender for one or more of the following reasons:

1. They don’t like the deal for whatever reason.
2. The home might be in a bad location, it may be priced too high, it may require too much work, or maybe the numbers just don’t add up.
3. You don’t have enough experience, a solid plan, or enough money.

The Advantages of Buying a BRRRR with a Hard Money Loan

The Ease of the Application Process
Many hard money lenders make applying for a loan very easy. For example, our application process for BRRRR properties consists of a one-page form to fill out. Once we have the one-page form and a few photos of the property we can give you a yes or no answer on your loan request. And because hard money loans are primarily asset-based loans, these loans require far less documentation than a bank loan.

The Fast Turnaround Time on Funding
In competitive markets where good rental properties are in short supply, you need a lender who can fund quickly. This is probably one of the biggest advantages of buying a BRRRR with a hard money loan, which is fast funding. Look for smaller, lending companies because they can typically fund a loan much quicker than larger companies with high loan volume.

Many hard money lenders will use a local broker’s price opinion to determine property value rather than using an appraisal. Because appraisals can often increase the time it takes to close on a property, this is another advantage of using a hard money lender to fund your BRRRR purchase.

Low Cost to Borrow Short-Term
Interest rates can vary from 8- 12% and the rate depends on the lender. As compared with bank loans, these rates seem really high. But if you’re planning to keep the hard money loan in place for a short time until you refinance, this can be your lowest cost financing.

For example, say you purchase a BRRRR using a hard money loan with a 12% annual interest rate. You keep the hard money loan for 5 months and then you refinance into a 30-year loan with a much lower rate. In this example, the hard money loan only costs you 5%, not 12%. This is a small price to pay as compared with the cost of taking on a partner, or the drama that can come from borrowing money from family or friends.

The Disadvantages of Buying a BRRRR with Hard Money

There are far more advantages to using hard money than there are disadvantages. However, there are two important disadvantages that you should be aware of when buying a BRRRR with hard money.

Excessive Junk Fees
All lenders have junk fees associated with funding the loan, and these fees are different from loan fees, or points. Some hard money lenders have excessive junk fees, so make sure you are aware of all of the fees associated with the loan. Especially when selecting one lender over another, use the total fees as a tool for comparison among various lenders. One lender may have a lower interest rate than another, but his junk fees may be higher as compared with a lender with a higher rate and no junk fees.

Not Everyone Will be Quickly Approved for a Refinance Loan
One thing to be aware of when using a hard money loan to purchase a BRRRR is that not everyone will easily qualify for the refinance. This means you may hold the hard money loan longer than you anticipated. Because hard money loans are far easier to qualify for than bank loans, some real estate investors are confronted with a challenge when refinancing. Someone may not be able to refinance because of a low credit score, while others may not qualify from a DSCR perspective.

For example, if the price paid for the property is very high but the rental income is not high enough to cover the mortgage payment on the refinance. A real estate investor may be betting on future appreciation of property value and is willing to take a loss on annual rents. But banks like to see the rental income is enough to cover the mortgage payment, taxes, and insurance. If the rental income doesn’t cover all of these expenses, a bank will look at your personal income to cover the loss. If your personal debt to income ratio is high you may have trouble qualifying for the bank refinance.

If you are unable to refinance quickly, this could leave you stuck paying a higher interest rate on a hard money loan for much longer than you expected. In the worst case, you may need to sell the property if you are unable to refinance out of the hard money loan you used to purchase it.

Prepayment Penalties
Some lenders require that you keep the loan for a minimum period of time before you pay it off. Always ask your lender if there is a prepayment penalty on the loan, sometimes this is called a guaranteed interest period. If there is a prepayment penalty, it is usually the sum of the interest from the day you pay off the loan through the lock out date. Some hard money lenders want a minimum of a three month loan term, while some want a minimum of six months.

You’re Approved for a BRRRR from a lender. What’s next?

Once you’ve found a hard money lender that has approved your purchase of a BRRRR property, then what’s next?

-Plan Your Exit Strategy: Make sure you qualify for the refinance to take out your hard money lender. What is the seasoning requirement of your take-out lender? Will the property value be high enough to pay off the loan and cash out for your next purchase? Does your rental income cover your loan payment, taxes, and insurance?

-Start Looking for Properties: Once you’re approved by your hard money lender and you’re 100% certain you can qualify for the refinance, it’s time to start looking for properties. Make sure the properties you are looking at will meet your hard money lender’s requirements. Really understand the property value, look at market comps, look at market rents, make sure you’re not overpaying for the property. And don’t make assumptions about rents, make sure your projections are accurate. And then finally, make sure your projected rents will cover the loan payment on your hard money loan.

Build Wealth Faster with BRRRR Properties
When done correctly, a BRRRR can be an excellent way to build wealth over time from your real estate portfolio. Using a hard money loan to buy a BRRRR can be a great way to get started in real estate investing if you don’t have the credit, or if you don’t have any experience. And by using hard money loans to acquire BRRRR properties, you can scale your real estate portfolio faster, and as a result, you will build your wealth faster.

If you’re looking for a BRRRR loan, reach out to us to discuss your financing options.

If you’re looking for a way to get into real estate investing, hard money loans may be a good option for you to fund your purchases. With hard money loans, you can purchase all different types of investment properties. In this article, I will go over the main investment property types that we commonly lend on and how to acquire investment property.

These include multi family properties, commercial buildings, fix and flips, and Single Tenant BRRRR properties. Each investment property type has its own unique benefits and risks. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at each one.

Multi Family Properties

A multi family is one type of rental property we lend on often. Any structure that has multiple, individual dwelling units, is known as a multi-family property. Examples of a multi family investment property include a duplex or an apartment complex, just to name a few.

Duplexes, threeplexes, and fourplexes are different types of multi family properties with a smaller number of units for investors who want to get their feet wet in multi family. These properties usually have two, three, or four units, respectively, so only a small number of units to manage and maintain.

When you get a hard money, private money loan to purchase multi family properties, lenders will often require a slightly larger down payment than on a residential, single unit purchase.

Apartment Complexes

We do a lot of hard money loans for rentals, especially apartment complexes. Apartments are a subtype of multi family property with a larger number of units, usually 5 or more units. Although more units translates to more rental income, apartment complexes require more repairs and maintenance, and thus often demand that their owners have more cash reserves.

Multi Family properties are located in both rural and urban areas and can provide a steady stream of income for a real estate investor (if bought at the right purchase price and managed properly). One of the benefits of investing in multi family property, is that you can get multiple rents coming in from different units. If one of the tenants does not pay rent, or if there is a vacancy, you may still have rental income from the other tenant(s). This lowers your risk as compared with renting a single unit property.

Some hard money lenders prefer multi family property loans over single tenant property loans because multiple units means more tenants paying rent if there is a vacancy, or if one of the tenants doesn’t pay rent. When lending to buyers of multi family properties, hard money lenders usually want to make sure their borrowers have prior experience owning rental real estate.

This is because rental real estate tends to come with more ownership headaches, and particularly with a multi family property with a larger number of units. Also with multi family you need cash reserves for maintenance because multiple units means multiple repairs and improvements that may be necessary after purchase.

A hard money lender may be expecting you to bring in a larger down payment and show more cash reserves for the purchase of a multi family property than in the purchase of a single unit dwelling. Also, if you plan to manage the property yourself you will need to plan on spending time collecting rents and doing groundskeeping. This is one of the reasons that some hard money lenders may want to see experience, to know that you have a plan for how these things will be managed.

Commercial Buildings

Commercial buildings can be a great investment for those looking for stable returns with longer term leases. There are many different types of commercial buildings, the most common include:

• Retail buildings
• Industrial buildings
• Office buildings
• Warehouses
• Apartment Complexes

One of the main benefits of commercial buildings is that they have historically provided a good hedge for inflation and a reliable income stream, often with higher yields than residential real estate. Urban, retail buildings often lease to niche tenants with established businesses in prime locations. Leases with these kinds of tenants are usually longer term and more likely to renew.

Some building types perform better than others in certain locations, and this is usually based on supply and demand in the area. Another risk associated with commercial buildings is that they can be hard to sell quickly, or can be trickier to finance, particularly single tenant commercial buildings.

Fix and Flip Properties

A fix and flip is a type of investment property where the investor purchases a property, makes repairs or renovations and then sells it for a profit. This can be a great way to make money in the real estate market, but it does come with some risks.

Some of these risks are

• Increased competition in your resale price range
• Being underfunded in the deal, e.g. having less money than is needed to complete the remodel, not being able to make payments on the loan used to purchase the property, etc.
• The remodel takes longer than expected or the property takes longer to sell than expected. Either way the project takes way longer than expected.

There are many hard money, private money lenders that lend on fix and flip properties. Loans for fix and flips are often called “rehab loans.” Some lenders will provide money for repairs but the borrowers are always expected to bring in some of their own cash.

There is a lot of competition for fix and flip properties, for this reason, you need to be able to close quickly when the right deal comes along. Get preapproved with a private lender prior to looking for properties. Here are 6 things that you’ll need to provide to a hard money lender to close on a property quickly.

BRRRR Properties

BRRRR is an initialism that means “buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat.” This type of investment is similar to a fix and flip investment property, but instead of selling the property after making repairs or renovations, the investor keeps the property and rents it out.  BRRRR properties  are the most common rental property loans we do.

BRRRR properties most commonly are single unit properties such as a single family home or a townhome. Rental properties can provide a steady income stream and may appreciate over time. Many private money, hard money lenders will approve this type of property for purchase based on the asset characteristics with no minimum credit score, no experience, etc.

If you purchase a BRRRR property using a private money, hard money loan, make sure you’re covered on the “refinance” part of the BRRRR, e.g. make sure you qualify for 30 year mortgage to pay off the private money used for the acquisition of the property. Read more on how to purchase BRRRR properties using private money loans

Conclusion
This article has focused on 4 types of investment properties that you can purchase using private money loans. But there are so many other investment property types that real estate investors purchase using private money, hard money loans including raw land, residential development, new construction, to name a few.

Purchasing an investment property does require upfront research, due diligence, and an understanding of the real estate market in the area where the property is located. You will need some cash reserves to cover ongoing repairs and maintenance. And if you pay too much for a property, you may not be able to cash flow the property, or worse you could be losing money. Never bet on future appreciation of any property as your reason to buy, but instead focus on the present and future cash flow. Also, make sure you inquire about interest rates  as well.

Hard money financing is a great option for many real estate investors who want to purchase an investment property but don’t have traditional financing available, have poor credit or no credit, or need to close on a property quickly. If you would like to get preapproved to purchase an investment property, reach out to us today.