One of the big differences is that commercial loans typically carry a pre-payment penalty, meaning you're disincentivized from paying the loan back early.

My current properties are in good shape & in good locations (Chicago & Summit County, CO by the ski resorts).

The two big things to remember when getting involved with Hard Money is to make sure you are qualified to refinance out of the HML loan (some hard money lenders will require a pre approval) and that Hard Money lenders will charge you huge fees including:-Origination fees of up to 5%-12-15% annual interest-Appraisal and underwriting feesIt seems like your numbers are a little tight to use hard money for this opportunity, but many investors are using hard money to buy homes with no money down.I also wouldn't recommend buying a house that needs a new roof, siding, etc for your first rehab property.

And even those beach rates can be mild compared to a few ski towns I've looked at!

I should add that I would much rather invest in RE Equity / Preferred Equity (despite all the risks) than in 2nd Lien Debt because at least with equity you have the chance of participating in the upside and can potentially earn greater than 19 or 20% (sometimes...) for what amounts to, IMHO, a similar amount of liquidation preference / default risk.Peer Street is a relative newbie player in this game so I havent tried them yet / have no opinion except to say that I notice their projects seem to pay a helluva lot less in APR % for what amounts to the same risk as POL or others  - I suspect it's b/c they pocket more of the spread for themselves in vig.Good Luck!

I am interested in investing in a pre-foreclosure.

So far I have a showing scheduled for tomorrow with the sellers realtor and the seller requested a pre qualification letter from my lender (which I have).Do I need my own realtor to represent me?

Are you sure it was really a 'pre-qualification'?

So you may be approved for lets say hypothetically $50K loan at a 3.99% APR but in just 5yrs depending how frequently the fed raises rates you could be looking at 6% or more by that time.

So again may be a silly question but is the upfront underwriting the same as a pre approval or pre-qualification?