All Forum Posts by: Brandon Bellino

 So if you already own the property free and clear, and they're only giving you a loan for the rehab only, how could they have a lien against the home to be in first position on? 

 Don't hard money lenders generally want to secure their loans using the house? I thought they would only give hard money loans for flipping if they're in first lien position? 

$24,000, or however much you have available outside your other investments, isn't really very much to start with, definitely no where near enough to generate $4-5,000 of profit a month. If by commercial real estate you mean purchasing rental properties, you could probably find a property being sold by the owner, or another investor, and work out a seller financing deal with them where you put 20% down, and make payments each month. You'd really only have enough money to purchase a $50,000-100,000 property, which would eat up your entire $20,000 and you'd probably need more to make any repairs. 

You could also use the money you have already to flip a home, using a hard money lender. They usually want you to have skin in the game, so probably 20% down again, but at least with flipping you'll get the money back, plus your profits, within 3-4 months (If everything works out of course). 

You could also look into wholesaling, but that's a lot more hands on in the sense you have to really put a lot of time into searching for deals, and networking with people. It might be a bit much for you if you'll be working full time as well. 

Overall, for the amount of money you have, and your goal, I'd personally recommend looking into flipping, until you can save up more capital. 

I know they want the borrower to have money in the deal. I was just curious if I put in 100% of the money for the rehab, if a lender would lend 100% of the purchase price. I just want to avoid construction draws. 

 So if I only wanted to borrow the purchase price of the home, and use my own money for the rehab, I would have to put 10%, or however much, towards the purchase as well? 

Hey! Hoping I can get some advice on using hard money for my first flip. I am 22, and about to graduate college. I have managed to save a little bit of money, at the end of the year when I graduate I will have between $30-40,000. 

What I want to know is - given I have no track record, what are the requirements hard money lenders will hold me to in regards to things like credit score? Does it have to be in the 700s for you to even qualify? I have no bad marks on my report, 100% payment with no debt, but a short credit history so my score will probably be somewhere between 650-700. 

I know when you use a hard money lender, generally people will usually borrow the money to do the actual rehab. I would really rather avoid doing this, as from what I've read it can be a hassle dealing with construction draws and I want to keep things as simple as I can for myself in the beginning. Would I be able to instead borrow the money to purchase the house, and then use my money to do the actual rehab?  

 Yes...making a down payment obviously is going to get you a better cash flow, no one is disputing that. But even making a good down payment in some markets, cash flow just isn't going to be there. Everyone knows different markets are better for different kinds of investing - appreciation, speculation, cash flow. 

In certain markets getting your property to cash flow just isn't realistic. Places like Florida, and California, New York City, etc. are better for appreciation. If you want properties that have high cash flows you really need to find markets with cheaper homes.

I'm looking for a hard money lender that lends in the Upstate/Central area of New York state. I'm looking to do my first flip, but any searches I do online only turn up companies that lend in NYC. Anyone have any recommendations? 

@Ann Bellamy Thanks so much for taking the time out of your day to give that response, I really appreciate it. 

It's funny you mention attending a REIA group, as I just watched podcast #15 with Glenn and Amber, and was surprised to find out they are also in the Upstate NY area and Glenn is the president of an investors group a few hours away from me. So I'm hoping to attend the next meeting!

I can definitely see your point when it comes to using local rather than national lenders, but in my area I think it's going to be kind of tough, as someone pointed out in an earlier comment. All of the results that come up when I search for local hard money lenders are in New York City. So I am definitely looking forward to attending Glenn's group, and hopefully I can find information on some local lenders there. 

If for whatever reason I am still unable to find a local lender would you happen to have any suggestions on a good regional lender?