How does the hardmoney loan process work??

[Jeffery Drayton]

Hello everyone, I'm a new investor in the Chicagoland area looking to invest capital and get my first rental property. Traditional banks and even some credit unions have so many guidelines for giving you a mortgage that's for a rental property.. especially if it's distressed( ughhh lol) , so I'm looking into hard money lending as an option. Could anyone with experience dealing with hard money tell me how the requirement process typically goes for an inexperienced investor? I would like to utilize the BRRR (Buy, Rehab, Rent, Repeat) method to obtain my first property.....or potentially a fix and flip if things don't go according to plan.

Do hard money lenders look at your FICO 8 score or the traditional bank or credit union widely used FICO 5,4,2 when judging your credit worthiness?

Do you actually pay a monthly payment on your hard money loan during the entire process until you payback the lender?

Is it hard to refinance out of a hard money loan with traditional banks and credit unions? What are their typical requirements in situations like this?

Thanks in advance everyone!!