Tag Archive for: hard money lenders

What is gap funding

What Is Gap Funding? And How Do You Get It?

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When to use gap funding and how to attract lenders.

A mortgage covers the bulk of the cost of purchasing a new property. But what about all the costs in-between?

There are some big price tags in real estate investment that bank loans won’t usually cover. You’ll still need to find a way to pay for your down payment, the fix-up cost, and any carrying costs for the property.

How do you fill those gaps?

What is Gap Funding?

Gap funding is the money source you use to cover these extra costs in real estate. Private individuals can lend money to fill the gaps in your investment.

All real estate investors at any stage can utilize gap funding. Typically, gap funding is most useful to investors just starting out, who haven’t yet made or saved enough money to fund their own investments entirely.

However, we also see people who are already multimillionaires with years of investing under their belts use gap funding. It’s a great way to leverage investments at any level.

Where Do You Find Gap Funding?

You might find a few banks and other lenders who do gap funding, but the main way to get it is through OPM, Other People’s Money – think of it as Real People’s Money.

These people can be family, friends, or members of a real estate group. These people don’t necessarily have enough to fund your entire flip, but do have $20,000 to $50,000 sitting in an account or IRA. They don’t want to do the actual work and risk of investing, but they do want the potential for a higher return on their money than they’d get from a bank.

How Do You Get Gap Funding?

Getting people to loan you their money may sound easier said than done. After all, OPM is often either secured by second-lien or unsecured, so you wouldn’t put your money in that situation with just anyone.

There are a few key traits you’ll need to show to attract the people who can provide you with gap funding:

  • Respect their money
  • Protect their money
  • Be honest

Having these qualities will be the deciding factor in someone lending to you over another investor.

Respect Your Lender’s Money

Understand what your lender wants and expects out of the deal, and be sure they get it. Make them feel respected and confident with you handling their money.

Protect Their Money

Treat the money professionally – even more carefully than you’d treat your own cash. Be diligent in arranging the proper liens, proper insurance, and proper documents.

Be Honest

Tell your lender everything that happens with your project. They have a right to know what they’re investing in. It’s better to be straightforward and allow your lender to make their own decisions than to keep secrets about the deal until it comes back to bite you.

Grow Your Funding

If you make your lender feel good after the first transaction, they’ll want to come back for another. Good deals can lead to a web of funding. A lender who has a good experience with you will tell their family and friends that you’re a good person to lend to.

Respecting, protecting, and being honest with your OPM helps you grow. Investing is much easier with gap funding covered by OPM, and it’s possible to someday fund entire projects with OPM.

Learn More about Gap Funding and OPM

If you’re interested in growing your real estate investment business, check out the following resources:

Download our free OPM checklist at this link.

Learn more about gap funding and OPM with these videos.

tricks to help sell flips in a slow market

Tricks to selling a home in a slowing market.

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How do you sell a house in slow markets?

A few tricks from past down turns.

Age and experience helps every once in a while and this is one of those times.

I have been through some tough markets over the past 30 years in this business.

So when clients start asking for tricks to help sell homes in slower markets…I offer strategies like these that have worked well in the past:

  1. Don’t cut the price but try buying down your borrowers interest rate. A lot of times paying one or two points toward their interest rate will help them qualify and give them a 30 year benefit (the lower rate).

    Example. I just spoke with a client with a home in a smaller community with a home priced over $600k that is stalling. He was going to drop the price $20k to help it move. I suggested offering to pay 2 points to buy down the buyers rate. This may only cost him $8 to $12k over the $20k and get the same result. Just depends on the size of loan the new buyer will need.

  2. Give an incentive to the realtors. Sometimes just a $5k incentive to realtors will get them to push your property to their buyers over the competition. So if a buyer is looking between a couple homes get their realtor on your side.
  3. Do a combination of lowering the price, buying down the rate and giving the realtors a bonus.

    Make your property stand out from your competition.

    The markets will slow down and carrying homes longer than you expect can cost more than incentives.

    Be aggressive and get it sold now. There are going to be better deals for you in the near future.

    Rates are not going down anytime soon so we need to adjust to the new reality…and still make money.

    With rates going up prices will come down.

    Don’t be the last home looking for a buyer.

THE GOOD NEWS.

In the next 6 to 9 months we will see the beginning of a buyers’ market.

Prices will go down and more opportunity to make that generational wealth will increase…for those who are prepared.

Be prepared. Be money prepared. The deals will be there.

Those with easy, fast money will create generational wealth.

This requires a mix of bank loans, hard money loans and most important real OPM (real private money to fill the holes). You will need them all.

Start now and be money prepared. If you wait it may be too late (the large funds may beat, you to the homes).

We can help. 30 + years of working with banks and private money sources at your service.

Money is the FUEL to propel your business past your competition.

We will be helping those who want to prepare with DIY or mastermind type groups.

This includes getting your credit in line and lining up the funds to close on what you want when you want.

If you want to be prepared email me at mike@thecashflowcompany.com and right in the subject line “Be Prepared”

Happy investing.

Fix and flip market watch June 2022

Fix and flip market watch June 2022

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Where are the markets for fix and flips and what can we expect in the next 6 months.

I address these questions in this months market watch.

We see signs of less overbidding on homes as interest rates continue to climb.

Median price range homes that have quality of work completed are still moving in days, but larger homes especially in more rural areas are starting to sit.

There is a storm we will have to get through over the next 9 months to figure out our new markets.  After that real estate investors should start to see better deals available to them too flip.

This will weed out some investors and leave more opportunity for the ones who plan wisely.

Looking for other videos on the money side of investing?  Check out our Youtube channel via this link.

How real estate investors can quickly raise their credit score

How real estate investors can quickly raise their credit score.

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3 Simple Ways to Boost Your Credit Score Fast

Leveraging your real estate investments just got easier with these 3 quick ways to raise your credit score.

Maybe you’ve already noticed it.

Larger lenders are getting into the fix-and-flip hard money space. And many of these companies require credit scores as their underwriting criteria.

In this landscape, your credit score decides the speed and effectiveness of your journey to fix-and-flip financial freedom. Your credit score will determine your rates, leverage, and overall income from your real investments. Good or bad, your score impacts every step of your financial process.

So how can you raise your score in a short amount of time?

Three quick ways bump up your score are to:

  1. Add more credit to your line.
  2. Get authorized on someone else’s good credit account.
  3. Go private – get money from somewhere else to pay off your debts long enough to apply for more credit.

If you would like to read the full article please click here.

For more tips on building good credit and maximizing real estate investment leverage, check out these helpful videos on our YouTube Channel. Or you can download our Credit Score Checklist by following this link.

Happy investing.