Hard Money Lenders

5 Best Private Money Lenders in Connecticut & New York (2024 Review Guide)

This guide reviews the five best private money lenders for Connecticut and New York-based borrowers.

Private money lenders are typically independent companies and individuals who provide borrowers with financing to purchase investment properties.

Borrowers commonly use private money loans to rehab distressed properties (e.g., fix-and-flip loans), purchase rentals that they lease to tenants (e.g., DSCR loans), or buy a property while waiting for their current one to sell (e.g., bridge loans).

These borrowers — often professional real estate investors — prefer private money lenders over larger banks because:

With that in mind, selecting the right private money lender is often the difference between closing quickly and outpacing cash buyers rather than having your loan application drag out for months. In our experience as both a borrower and lender, we’ve learned that there are three things you should look for in a private money lender:

  1. How quickly do they issue loan approval and term sheets? We’ve found that many private money lenders claim they can close within 14 days, but when you partner with them, it turns out to be more like 40 days. A reliable way to gauge a lender’s closing speed is by looking at the time it takes them to issue loan approval and term sheets. If this takes more than 24 hours, you probably won’t close quickly.
  1. Do they offer instant quotes? We’ve also learned that many lenders will require you to wait multiple business days for a loan officer to reach out. Then, you have to answer a multitude of questions before getting a quote. This is another indication of poor application processes that impact closing speeds. Instead, good private money lenders should offer an online pricer that lets you generate instant quotes without waiting for a loan officer to call.
  1. Is the loan officer the decision maker on your loan? Many lenders employ loan officers who are unfamiliar with lending criteria and can’t tell if you qualify without sending your application to underwriting. This is a problem because if issues surface deep into underwriting, your loan may get rejected near the closing date. Instead, partner with a lender where the loan officers are familiar with lending criteria and can greenlight your loan without sending it to underwriting first. This reduces the chances of last-minute rejections.

In this article, we cover the five best private money lenders in Connecticut and New York that help borrowers close quickly and reliably. 

First, we discuss how we founded Constitution Lending to provide quick and reliable funding for real estate investors. We also review RCN Capital, Roc Capital, Easy Street Capital, and Lima One Capital, allowing you to compare your options.

You can price out different loan scenarios and see what interest rates you qualify for using our automated pricer.

1. Constitution Lending: A Direct Private Money Lender for Real Estate Investors in Connecticut and New York

Constitution Lending homepage: We empower real estate investors

Constitution Lending is a direct, private money lender that operates in states like Connecticut and New York.

We founded Constitution Lending in 2018 after nearly a decade as  real estate investors, during which we faced two major issues with most investment property lenders

Our lending process is designed to solve these problems by closing quickly and preventing last-minute drama.

This is what borrowers say about Constitution Lending:

Constitution Lending reviews: Easiest borrowing experience
Loan typeLoan amountsMaximum LTV Term lengthMinimum credit score
Interest rates Property types
Fix and flip loans$125,000 to $3,000,000 85%12 months660 As low as 10.99%SFR, 2–4 units, multifamily, commercial
Bridge loans$150,000 to $3,000,000 70%3 months – 24 months660 As low as 10.99%SFR, 2–4 units, multifamily, commercial
Ground Up Construction loans$150,000 to $3,000,000 85%12 Months680 As low as 10.99%SFR, 2–4 units
DSCR loans$150,000 to $3,000,000 80%30 years660 As low as 6.99%SFR, 2–4 units, 5–8 unit multifamily


Let’s review the specifics of our lending process below.

We Close Loans Within 7 to 14 Days

Many lenders have inefficient application processes that cause long closing times.

Specifically, borrowers have to wait multiple days for a loan officer to call them. Then, they have to sit on the phone with the loan officer for an hour, answering countless questions. Only after another few days do they receive a quote, approval letter, and term sheet, at which point they can begin submitting paperwork. This initial stage takes 5 to 7 days.

At Constitution Lending, we speed up the application process with our automated pricer and online documents portal. What normally takes 5 to 7 days can be done within one hour.

With our automated pricer, you can price out various loan scenarios and generate instant quotes — you don’t have to wait for a call from a loan officer.

Simply enter details like the property’s location, asking price, loan amount, and the type of loan you want to apply for, and our pricer will produce three quotes.

Estimate your rate and Loan Options

You can tweak these values, such as the purchase price, rehab amount, and rental income, to understand how each impacts your quotes. Then, you can apply for the loan you prefer by selecting it and entering your full name and email address. We’ll send you loan approval and a term sheet immediately.

Additionally, we’ll give you access to our documents portal. Here, you’ll find all the documents you need to submit depending on the kind of loan you’re applying for. These documents typically include:

This way, there’s none of the back-and-forth you get with other lenders, where you’re always waiting to hear if they require more paperwork.

This documents portal is also where you can track the status of your loan application and ask our team any questions.

Loan Progress: San Francisco example

Finally, we review your documents and close your loan.

The efficiency of our automated pricer and documents portal has enabled us to reliably close within 7 to 14 days. We’ve even closed within 4 days if borrowers needed to purchase a property quickly.

All Our Loan Officers are Final Decision Makers on Your Loan

As we alluded to earlier, most banks and private lenders staff loan officers who don’t understand hard money lending criteria and, thus, cannot approve your application by just looking at your paperwork. They must forward your application to the underwriting department, which will underwrite it for a week or two before giving you a final answer.

The problem with this is that if discrepancies arise late in underwriting because the loan officer couldn’t identify them early on, your loan application can be rejected right before you’re about to close.

At Constitution Lending, we solve this problem because all our loan officers thoroughly understand lending requirements and can approve your application before sending it for underwriting.

This way, you know whether you qualify immediately after submitting the required paperwork. It’s very unlikely that issues will surface deep into underwriting because our loan officers can identify them early on, preventing those frustrating, last-minute rejections.

New York and Connecticut Hard Money Lenders: Get Fast, High LTV Loans with Constitution Lending

Constitution Lending is a direct lender that has closed more than $200 million in loans since 2018. These include fix-and-flip loans, DSCR loans, bridge loans, and new construction loans. We operate in almost all U.S. cities, including New York City, Stamford, Hartford, Bridgeport, New Haven, and more.

Because of the unique lending process discussed above, 92% of flippers do more than two flips with us per quarter and use us as their main lender. Additionally, 88% of investors have been with us for at least three years.

You can apply for a private money loan by using our automated pricer to generate an instant quote.

2. RCN Capital

RCN Capital homepage: The Leading Nationwide Lender for Real Estate Investors

RCN Capital is a Connecticut-based private money lender offering various loan programs to borrowers in 45 U.S. states. Since its founding in 2010, RCN Capital has helped hundreds of borrowers finance real estate investment properties.

On their website, RCN says they use common-sense underwriting and can make exceptions to help borrowers qualify if they are sitting on a good deal.

Loan Products

Requirements

How to Apply

You must fill out an application form on the RCN website, and a loan officer will reach out.

3. Roc Capital

Roc Capital homepage: Built for growing your private lending business

Roc Capital is a New York hard money lender that caters to professional real estate investors who need to close quickly. Like most private money lenders, it has flexible requirements and uses common-sense underwriting, so borrowers with high DTI ratios or who need exceptions can still qualify.

Loan Products

Roc Capital offers five main loan products:

Requirements

How to Apply

To apply for a private money loan with ROC, you can call one of their loan officers or fill out a contact form, and a loan officer will contact you.

4. Easy Street Capital

Easy Street Capital homepage: Investing in People. Investing in Properties.

Easy Street Capital is a private, hard money lender that funds real estate projects in Connecticut, New York, Florida, California and all other U.S. states except North and South Dakota. Founded in 2016, it has helped borrowers finance fix and flip projects, purchase long-term rentals, and build investment properties from scratch.

Loan Products

Easy Street Capital has three main hard money loan products:

Requirements

How to Apply

To apply for a private money loan with Easy Street Capital, you can complete the contact form on their website, inform them about your situation and the loan you want to apply for, and a loan officer will send you a term sheet.

5. Lima One Capital

Lima One Capital homepage: Smart Investments Start with Great Partnerships

Lima One Capital is a private nationwide lender that helps borrowers fix and flip investment properties, rent them out to tenants, and fund construction projects. They currently lend to commercial real estate investors in Connecticut and New York.

Loan Products

Lima One Capital offers four types of loans.

Requirements

How to Apply

You can book a call with a loan officer on the Lima One website and they will contact you.

Qualify for Quick Financing with Constitution Lending

Learn what interest rates and LTV you qualify for using our automated pricer

Constitution Lending lends to borrowers located in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and countless other real estate markets.

Related reads:

QualificationRequirement
Minimum and maximum loan amount $150,000 to $3,000,000
Type of propertyNon-owner occupied single-family, multi-family, and 5-8 unit properties