This guide highlights the top five hard money rehab lenders, focusing on their closing speed and reliability.
Hard money rehab loans are short-term financing solutions that allow borrowers — typically real estate investors — to purchase and renovate investment properties or flip them for a profit.
Many borrowers prefer hard money lenders over traditional banks because of faster closing times. While banks often take 75+ days to close a loan, a reliable hard money lender can close within 7 to 14 days. This quick turnaround helps borrowers capitalize on time-sensitive opportunities and reduces the risk of losing a property to a cash buyer.
Additionally, hard money lenders focus on the profitability of the deal rather than the borrower’s financial profile. As a result, borrowers don’t need to provide income verification or worry about their debt-to-income (DTI) ratio or employment status.
However, we’ve learned that even though many hard money lenders advertise fast closings, their application processes are often slow, leading to unnecessary delays.
Here are two ways to differentiate between fast lenders and slower, less reliable ones:
In this guide, we discuss our hard money rehab loans at Constitution Lending, pointing out our quick closing times and upfront communication with borrowers about their qualification status.
We also explore other lenders that offer hard money rehab loans, such as RCN Capital, BridgeWell Capital, Easy Street Capital, and Lima One Capital, so you can examine their application processes and lending practices.
Use our automated loan pricer to generate instant quotes and see what interest rates and LTV you qualify for.
Constitution Lending is a direct lender that provides borrowers with fix-and-flip loan options to rehab investment properties.
Before founding Constitution Lending, we were on the other side as borrowers and real estate investors. Through this experience, we saw that most lenders struggle to close quickly. Their website would say they can close within 7 to 14 days, but in reality, it would almost always take 40+ days.
When we founded Constitution Lending, our goal was to enable borrowers to actually close quickly — we do this with our automated pricer and online documents portal (more about these tools below).
This is how borrowers describe our efficient application process:
Let’s break down how we close quicker and more reliably than most lenders.
As we alluded to above, most hard money lenders claim that they can close within 7 to 14 days. However, they are frequently unable to do this due to slow application processes.
More specifically, borrowers must wait multiple business days for a loan officer’s call, and only then do they receive a term sheet, loan approval, and quote — after which they can start submitting paperwork.
At Constitution Lending, we expedite this first part of the application process with our automated pricer. Borrowers can instantly generate loan quotes and experiment with different variables to see how each impacts their quotes — they don’t have to wait for a call from a loan officer.
Then, we send borrowers a term sheet and loan approval letter immediately after they’ve generated a quote. Additionally, we provide a link to our online documents portal, allowing borrowers to upload all the required paperwork
This application stage typically takes 5 to 7 days with most lenders, but at Constitution Lending, it's done in less than an hour.
Here’s a quick overview of the loan process:
Most of our borrowers go from application to closing within 7 to 14 days. If all paperwork is ready, we can close in as little as 4 days.
Constitution Lending is a direct lender, meaning we’re the financiers of your private money loan. You aren’t speaking to a loan broker connecting you to a lender.
Since we lend our own capital and set our own loan requirements, we can determine if you qualify by simply reviewing your documents. Unlike brokers, we don’t have to forward your application to another lender and have them underwrite for multiple weeks before giving you a final answer.
The advantage of this is that you know if you qualify a couple of hours after submitting your application — you don’t have to worry about last-minute complications.
On the other hand, loan brokers are often the cause behind a lot of last-minute drama. This is because they aren’t the final decision maker on your loan — they have to send your application to the lender and wait until the lender is finished underwriting before giving you an answer.
If the lender finds an issue with your application when you’re neck-deep into underwriting, it can cause your application to get rejected right before the closing date.
A popular strategy among real estate investors is to fix and flip a property, then rent it out, using rental income to pay off the loan.
At Constitution Lending, we support this flip-and-hold strategy by allowing borrowers to seamlessly convert their short-term hard money loan into a 30-year DSCR loan.
This streamlines the process, enabling borrowers to secure both short-term and long-term funding from one lender. There’s no need to apply for a conventional loan at a large bank and wait 75+ days to close.
Read more: 5 Best DSCR Lenders (2024 Comparison)
Since 2018, Constitution Lending has helped hundreds of first-time and experienced real estate investors quickly purchase and rehab investment properties.
Having originated over $200 million in hard money loans, 92% of real estate investors complete two or more flips per quarter, and 88% of lenders stay with us for at least three years.
Use our automated pricer to explore various loan scenarios and receive instant quotes.
RCN Capital is a hard money lending company specializing in short-term financing solutions for real estate investors, particularly those involved in fix-and-flip, rental property, and new construction projects.
RCN offers a variety of loan products, including bridge loans, rehab loans, rental loans, construction loans, and refinance loans, designed to help investors access capital quickly.
Borrowers can apply for a hard money loan with RCN Capital by completing an application form on their website. A loan officer will then contact you, ask a few questions, and provide you with a quote.
BridgeWell Capital is a private lending firm based in Orlando, Florida that focuses on delivering short-term, asset-backed financing to real estate investors. They provide a variety of loan programs, such as loans for fix-and-flip projects, rental property acquisitions, and new construction.
To qualify for financing with BridgeWell Capital, complete an application form with your deal and loan details. A BridgeWell loan officer will then contact you for a phone call.
Based in Austin, Texas, Easy Street Capital is a private money lender providing short-term financing for real estate investors, developers, and builders across the U.S.
Their loan products include fix-and-flip loans, rental property financing, and new construction loans. In addition, Easy Street Capital also offers flexible terms, allowing borrowers who are self-employed or have high DTI ratios to qualify.
To apply for a hard money rehab loan with Easy Street Capital, you can request a term sheet on their website and they will send it within a few hours. A loan officer will then contact you to discuss your borrowing needs and send your application for underwriting.
Lima One Capital is a hard money lender providing financing to real estate investors, specializing in single-family rental properties, fix-and-flip projects, and new construction.
Lima One offers various loan products, including bridge loans and short-term fix-and-flip financing.
In addition to short-term loans, Lima One also serves the long-term real estate market, helping investors secure financing for rental properties. This makes Lima One a great choice for investors looking to fix and flip, then rent out a property.
Get pre-approved by calling one of their loan officers or completing an application with your loan type and property details. A loan officer will follow up with you.
Use our automated pricer to instantly generate a quote and view your loan terms and LTV.
Related reads:
| Qualification | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Minimum and maximum loan amount | $150,000 to $3,000,000 |
| Type of property | Non-owner occupied single-family, multi-family, and 5-8 unit properties |