What should a realtor look for in a hard money lender?
If you’re a real estate agent or broker and you have a lot of investor clients, you understand how much you need mortgage professionals to get your clients approved so you can close deals. Real estate investors make up about 20% of all home purchases in the US according to redfin’s recent survey.
More than 50% of all investment property purchases are paid for in cash in every state in the US, but what about the 30-40% of properties that are financed?
Every experienced agent has gone through this: You spend countless hours working hard to market a property, driving clients around to show the property, prequalifying the buyer as best you can, negotiating with the seller and buyer, and writing up the contract. Only to have the deal canceled because the borrower’s financing was declined at the last minute or they couldn’t get approved in the first place.
At HML Investments we can help you prevent lost deals before they happen.
The most common types of financing for real estate investment properties are:
- All Cash
- Hard Money Loan/ Individual Private Lender
- Conventional Bank
If your client isn’t a cash buyer and needs financing, there are a lot of things that could go wrong that end up in a decline.
Not all real estate agents and brokerages are created equal, and the same goes for mortgage companies, private lenders, and brokers.
Many times the problem or reason for the decline isn’t the borrower: The main problem is that the borrower chose the wrong lender.
Should you rely on Banks, private lenders, or mortgage brokers who can take the deal to multiple lending sources to get the best deal?
A survey performed by real estate research firm Inman showed that 74% of realtors prefer working with mortgage brokers.
Traditional Bank Lenders
Traditional bank lenders do really well for “A paper” borrowers with excellent credit, a good debt-to-income ratio, consistent income from stable jobs that’s easily verifiable, that are buying middle-class 2-3 bedroom properties.
Traditional banks can be a lot tougher to qualify with if the borrower falls under one of the following categories:
- Self-employed
- Independent contractor
- Non us residents/foreign nationals
- Vacation rental investors
- House flippers
- New construction projects
- Has poor credit
- Any previous bankruptcies or foreclosures.
Additionally, traditional bank lenders are limited in the loan programs they have and the borrower must fit in a specific box to qualify.
Hard money Lenders and Non-Bank Lenders
Nonbank lenders are lenders that don’t sell their loans to Fannie or Freddie Mae or other institutional loan buyers. They have a lot more flexibility on their loan programs and the underwriting criteria to qualify.
As a realtor or real estate broker you already have a lot on your plate and you probably don’t have the time to become a mortgage expert and shop your client’s deal to different lenders because you don’t understand all of the different criteria at each lender to qualify. Not to mention that the criteria is always changing ever so slightly.
Many realtors refer clients to mortgage brokers because they have relationships with hundreds of lenders. Traditional, non-bank, private individuals, hard money lenders, and family offices so they can not only get your client get the best deal but get their loan approved and funded so you can close the deal.
The mortgage broker knows how to submit the application properly, structure the deal, and pick the right hard money lender that is the perfect match for your client’s flip or rental.
Here are the main benefits of working with a mortgage broker
- Access to hundreds of hard money lenders, banks, and private individual lenders.
- Speed. Success loves speed, and if you want to help your client grow their real estate portfolio they need to secure financing quickly and with certainty.
- Overcome previous turndowns
- Brokers know the market and talk to lenders every day, so they are up to date on the qualification criteria, rates, and loan amounts allowed.
At HML Investments we have a group of high-net-worth individuals and private family offices that offer private money loans and hard money loans. With our private investors, we can fund real estate purchases in as little as 3 days!
We also have access to family offices and non-bank lenders that offer investment-purpose loans around the nation.
Whether your client needs the max loan amount possible, has no credit, needs to get renovations financed, has to close in less than a week, or has no experience, we have a solution for them.
It doesn’t matter the asset type, as long as your client has enough equity in the deal and it’s a good property we can fund it with one of our hard money lenders.
Private and hard money lenders just focus on the asset itself, and the exit strategy of the borrower. As an experienced mortgage broker of over 20 years, at HML investments we can help your clients structure their loans and strategy so that they can quickly secure funding.
To learn more about how your client can qualify for financing, contact us today with their loan scenario.
