Dennis Dahlberg - It Can't Get Better Than This!

Monday, April 2, 2018

The Top Differences to Watch for with Private Hard Money Lenders

While there are over 600 private hard money lenders in the U.S., no two are created equal. Understand the differences and what to look for when choosing a lender for your next project.

Looking for a short-term loan quickly? Need 7 to 10 days? Looking to purchase residential and commercial property for purchase and renovation? Obtaining quick capital via a private hard money lender may be your best option. In fact, this is one of the primary forms of financing for first-time real estate investors. Let’s take a look at what are the marked differences among the various lenders.

Some private hard money lenders focus on properties in relatively good condition, while others will fund properties in poor condition if you come aboard with a good business plan and the numbers to back it up. This includes an in-depth look at renovation costs, time frame, and market. You will also need to include the monthly costs that you’ll incur during the renovation process such as utilities, insurance, loan interest and property tax. Some companies and private investors loan only on the LTV or loan-to-value, while others will consider the ARV or after-repair-value. For instance, some will issue a loan up to 80 percent of the LTV or 70 percent of the ARV. If your model is to rehab properties in poor condition for a fix & flip, you’ll want to be sure to ask your potential investor which value they consider when funding a project.

Buy-and-hold investors, on the other hand, obtain private hard money lenders in order to ensure quick capital. After renovation is complete, they look to more traditional loans for longer terms and lower interest rates. You’ll find many private investors that specialize in one segment of real estate. For instance, there are hard money lenders that invest only in the office or multifamily segments, while others focus on the fix-and-flip model. You’ll want to be sure to find one that is comfortable and knowledgeable in your area. There are even hard money lenders that fund residential loans. These are, in most cases, considered bridge loans—short term loans that bridge from one property to another such as when home owners buy a new home before their old home sells.

Interest Rates and Average Lender Fees

Going into this arena of commercial lending, it’s important to be aware that the interest rates are going to be higher than conventional mortgages because the hard money loans are shorter terms, interest-only payments, and increased risk for lenders. The interest payments are considered “holding costs” and are monthly fees incurred prior to selling or refinancing. These interest-only payments result in lower monthly payments. When you agree to a loan with a hard money lender, there can also be what are known as “loan origination fees” or “points.” Additional fees that the borrower may be required to pay include closing costs, appraisal costs, application fees, prepayment penalties and loan extension penalties.

At Level 4 Funding, we offer loans from 7.99 percent APR with 90 percent LTV.

In addition, we do not charge prepayment penalties and can often fund within days. Because we work with hundreds of private investors, we can usually find an investor in your niche who can offer you the best terms and rates for your project. Call us today for a no-obligation quote.

About the Author: Dennis has been working in the real estate industry in some capacity for the last 40 years. He purchased his first property when he was just 18 years old. He quickly learned about the amazing investment opportunities provided by trust deed investing and hard money loans. His desire to help others make money in real estate investing led him to specialize in alternative funding for real estate investors who may have trouble getting a traditional bank loan. Dennis is passionate about alternative funding sources and sharing his knowledge with others to help make their dreams come true. Dennis has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. They have 2 beautiful daughters 5 amazing grandchildren. Dennis has been an Arizona resident for the past 40 years.

Technorati Tags: commercial loans,commercial lending,commercial mortgage

Get ready, the Donald is getting ready to SCREW YOU!

iStock_000067965589_XXX small (1) Whoa, are you ready for it? You are going to get screwed! I don’t think the Donald is going to actively go out of his way to cause you harm.

You see his hands are tied, but he has to do something before it is too late.

I don’t know if you have noticed it yet, but there is an ugly monster in the corner of your room, and under your bed who is fast asleep, and quietly taking no action.

Don't believe me? Ask our kids, they will tell you also.

It’s a horrible monster, who when it wakes is going to eat you alive; you, your family, your savings and everything around you.

It’s going to be horrible, like something you and I have never seen.

Luckily the monster is asleep and causing little harm.

BUT the Donald knows it is there lurking in your room.

He’s keeping an eye on it and figuring out a way to KILL IT before it awakes.

Kill it in in its sleep; get it now.

I don’t know if he can, but he’s working on it.

So what’s this monster look like?

It’s the trillions of dollars in debt that is inching up every day.

It’s going to get you!

The Donald said that when it reaches 20 Trillion it’s to longer fixable, past the point of no return. (It’s past 20 Trillion now) It’s beyond the path of control.

It’s going to become a living monster that is going to get us. All of us.

However, the Donald is working on a plan to kill it.

Basically there are three options possible to kill it.

Option 1. The first plan that the Donald is trying to do is what he said in his campaign.

Make America Great again. What does this mean? It means getting our GDP up to historic levels. Not just 3%, but even higher. How about a 10% GDP? When we are booming, our cash flow can kill the monster.

That’s what he is hoping for. Kill it with growth. Make so much money that the trillion of dollars can be paid off with a week’s worth of income.

Possible? I don’t know, but this path is the least painful path, compared to the two other Options that will kill the monster.

Option 2 is to inflate it away.

That’s it. Devalue the dollar to the point that 20 Trillion is nothing. Give everyone a pay check that is 10 times more than they are making today. Prices go up, income goes up, but the debt stays where it is.

This is possible, and the Donald thinks that this could happen. The recent tax plan made sure that your taxes rates were indexed to inflation. Wow, did you see that? If the dollar crashes our effective tax rate stays the same. We will be paying a boat load of money in taxes, but your effective tax rate is not going to go up.

Option 3 is to pay it off.

Good luck with that option.

There is not enough income to pay it off. It would require doubling EVERONES' taxes for the next 10 years and cutting social security and all entitlements out completely. No more handouts anywhere for anything.

Don’t think this is going to happen.

Another option that most politician are taking, is to leave it alone and hope it does not wake up.

But it’s going to wake up.

It's past the point of no return.

The wakeup alarm is ringing and the monster is starting to wake up.

Do you see it in the corner, starting to stretch its ugly muscles?

Its Yawning and scratching its back and with one ugly, mean eye open looking directly at YOU!

It’s going to get you, so get ready!

Dennis Dahlberg
Broker/RI/CEO/MLO
Level 4 Funding LLC Private Hard Money Lender
Arizona Tel: (623) 582-4444
Texas Tel: (512) 516-1177
Dennis@level4funding.com NMLS 1057378 | AZMB 0923961 | MLO 1057378
22601 N 19th Ave Suite 112 | Phoenix | AZ | 85027
111 Congress Ave |Austin | Texas | 78701

About the Author: Dennis has been working in the real estate industry in some capacity for the last 40 years. He purchased his first property when he was just 18 years old. He quickly learned about the amazing investment opportunities provided by trust deed investing and hard money loans. His desire to help others make money in real estate investing led him to specialize in alternative funding for real estate investors who may have trouble getting a traditional bank loan. Dennis is passionate about alternative funding sources and sharing his knowledge with others to help make their dreams come true. Dennis has been married to his wonderful wife for 42 years. They have 2 beautiful daughters 5 amazing grandchildren. Dennis has been an Arizona resident for the past 40 years.

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Sunday, April 1, 2018

How to Develop an Exit Strategy When Obtaining a Hard Money Loan

An exit strategy is, in essence, your plan for paying off your hard money loan. It is a plan that you will want to develop before you sit down with a lender.

Exit strategies are crucial for obtaining a hard money loan. Many of these lenders offer interest-only payments as you develop or renovate your project. They obtain the big payoff upon completion when you have succeeded in your “exit strategy” and can repay them in full. For those of you in the fix & flip model, your exit strategy is fairly easy to define. You rehab and then sell the property.

Selling the property, then, is your exit strategy. Because timelines can change in the world of construction and rehab as well as finding qualified buyers, it will be important that you look for a hard money lender that does not charge a prepayment penalty. You’ll also want to come to the table with improvement plans that include costs and potential market value as well as comps and average time on the market.

If your real estate segment falls into the buy-and-hold model, selling will, obviously, not be an appropriate exit strategy. A strategy that does work is refinancing. Many traditional lenders that offer lower interest rates with longer terms will not loan on properties in poor conditions. Once you have the property renovated and a suitable tenant, your chances of obtaining a traditional loan are greatly elevated. It could be that you needed a loan quickly to jump on a property that just hit the market. Many investors obtain funding from their hard money lender in order to accomplish a quick buy and then refinance at a later date.

The Sale of Assets

The sale of other assets such as real estate or accessing additional funds such as money from IRAs, the stock market, or business interests is another exit strategy. You may wonder why, in this case, the borrower wouldn’t just dip into their additional assets and bypass the loan process all together. For many investors, time is a crucial component in their investment strategies and waiting while other assets sell may cause them to miss a prime property or opportunity. In essence, you are obtaining a bridge hard money loan. These types of short-term loans simply “buy some time” and act as a “bridge” from either one loan to the next or one property to the next.

Don’t feel like you have to stick with one exit strategy. Blended strategies can often be the best solution depending on the situation.

And just what is a blended strategy? This type of exit strategy utilizes a combination of all of the above to create a strategy that works the best for your particular situation. For instance, if you cannot obtain the full loan amount upon completion of the project, you can sell an asset and reduce the LTV so that a traditional lender will consider financing. Whatever your exit strategy, be sure to check with Level 4 Funding before obtaining your hard money loan. We have years of experience and can help you develop an exit strategy that works well for your project.

Technorati Tags: commercial loans,commercial lending,commercial mortgage

Saturday, March 31, 2018

How to Qualify for Commercial Real Estate Loans

Understand that commercial real estate loans are nothing like residential loans, which means that the qualifications are drastically different as well. Understanding the qualifications before you apply for a loan is critical to securing the fund that you need.

First, it is important to grasp that commercial real estate loans and residential real estate loans have nothing really in common other than the word loans. The comparison is similar to that of a paper airplane and a jumbo jet; yes they both fly. So be prepared to learn about an entirely new set of loan qualifications before you embark on your first commercial loan application.

Lenders base a huge portion of their decision on your personal credit score when you are seeking a residential loan. And it is always good to have a respectable credit score, but it is not as critical when seeking a commercial loan. A credit score of below 600 will require an explanation but it is not a deal breaker. But a credit score of under 500 is likely to reduce your opportunities quite a bit. What lenders will be looking for to approve commercial real estate loans is a solid net worth. In general, lenders would like to see a net worth equal to the amount of the loan you are requesting.

Another important factor to qualify for commercial real estate loans is liquidity. The standard for liquidity varies among lenders but the rough average is 10-20% of the loan amount. What lenders don’t want to see is a borrower who scrapes up every last dollar that they have to make a down payment. Being cash poor could have catastrophic results if there is an unexpected expense which arises or some other type of emergency.

Your Experience

Your experience will also be a key factor in your approval. Demonstrating that you have the ability to manage the new property successfully means that you are most likely going to be able to make you payments on time and for the life of the loan. And if the property is quite large, the lender wants to know that you have the resources and staff in place to handle the management and ownership responsibilities associated with the property.

Income

As with any loan, there is a certain expectation for income. You need to have the income to pay the loan payment each month. This might be in the form of rental income once the property is up and functioning or it could be revenue from the business which is housed on the property, but the cash flow needs to be there to make the payments. Unlike on a residential loan, there is not real ratio such as debt to income that the industry uses as a standard. But you do need to demonstrate that there will be some type of cash flow to cover the loan payments for the life of the loan. All of these factors are blended to determine your ability to make the monthly payments on the loan that you are requesting unlike in a residential loan application where most of the weight rests on your income alone.

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How to Benefit From Hard Money Loans

Though many borrowers are unfamiliar with the concept, hard money loans offer many benefits to certain borrowers. Understanding how these loans work can make them a great financial tool to have at your disposal.)

Hard money loans are simply short term loans which are secured by real estate. The loans are often referred to as non-conventional as they are provided by private lenders rather than traditional lenders or banks. Unlike the more traditional loans offered by banks, there are much less stringent requirements to qualify for these private loans. This is one of the main reasons that many borrowers elect to use a private lender and hard money.

As a rule, private hard money is seen as a faster and less difficult solution for many real estate investors. With less documentation required for the application, not only is this a less stressful process for the borrower but it is also faster for the lender. For these types of loans, the lender is primarily interested in the value of the property which is going to be used as the collateral on the loan and not the borrower’s financial health. So rather than spending days or weeks verifying credit history and credit reports, the lender is only seeking the current market value of that one property. If the loan amount is less than 70% of the property value then the lender is most likely ready to draw up the agreement and fund the loan.

Who Benefits from Hard Money Loans?

There are four main ways that hard money loans can be used to a great benefit for borrowers. The first is in the case of flippers. This is an investor who is buying a house that needs work and will be completing a renovation with the intent of selling the property for a profit and in a very short time. A private loan is much faster and easier for this process. Builders will also use this type of loan to purchase a lot to build on. Once the structure is complete, they sell it and pay off the private lender with the profit from the sale. Investors also favor a private loan when they are in need of funding very quickly. Opportunities can be very time sensitive and making the initial purchase using a private loan is much faster. Then the investor has the option of securing a traditional loan to lower their interest costs once they have ownership of the property.

A Final Benefactor

The last type of situation which can require a private loan of this nature is a person who has bad credit. There are occasions when a person has saved enough for the down payment on a property but is still unable to secure a traditional loan for the purchase. Their credit is too bad or they have no credit history. In this case, they can use the private lender to secure the property and then refinance later when they are able to qualify for a traditional loan. All of these situations are clearly good options to take advantage of an opportunity that would otherwise be lost.

Technorati Tags: commercial loans,commercial lending,commercial mortgage

Invest 5 Minutes to Learn How Hard Money Loans Can Work for You

By understanding the process of hard money loans, you will see the benefits that they offer. Then you can use this financial tool to make money.

Hard money loans are non-traditional loans, meaning that they are funded not by banks or lending institutions but by private sources. These sources can be a private individual or a group of people who are working together to fund loans. In most cases, the loans are short term and are used to purchase investment properties. The other key feature for these loans is the qualification process.

In the case of a conventional loan, a borrower must complete a loan application and submit it to the traditional lender. This document can be very in depth and tedious to complete. And then the lender begins the process of verifying the information to determine if the borrower is a good risk. The lender considers the borrowers credit score, credit history and overall financial well-being to decide if they will grant the request for funds. In short, the approval is based on the borrower’s current finances. But for hard money loans, the lender is basing the approval on a totally different criteria. The lender is only interested in the current market value of the collateral being offered for the loan. Collateral is something of value which is pledged as a form of security on the repayment of a loan. In this case the collateral is most often the property being purchased. If the borrower fails to make the payments on the loan then the lender is able to sell the collateral to recover their money. The lender is not even really interested in the borrower’s credit or financial position, only the collaterals value.

Understanding this single point is critical to making money using hard money loans. What this means is that you do not need to have great credit or a strong credit history to be able to fund an investment property. You only need to have found a property which has a value greater than the amount that you need to borrow. This single fact opens up investment real estate to an entire segment of the population who might not qualify for a traditional loan due to past credit issues.

Use This Knowledge

Knowing that private lenders are willing to extend loans to borrowers without perfect credit means that anyone can invest in real estate and benefit from this potentially huge profitability. Fix and flip purchases have become very popular in the past 5 years. Buying a property which needs work is a great way to buy cheap, invest sweat equity and then sell for a large profit. Using hard money allows anyone who is willing to invest the time and work needed to improve the property to make a profit on this short term investment.

Invest in Your Future

Not everyone has great credit or can qualify for a second traditional mortgage for an investment property. But using a private lender is a great way to get a short term loan to begin your path to financial freedom as a real estate investor.

Technorati Tags: commercial loans,commercial lending,commercial mortgage

Friday, March 30, 2018

Why Understanding the Basics Helps to Avoid Red Flags on Commercial Loans

Applying for commercial loans is normally a long process. It is important to avoid raising red flags to keep the process as stream lined as possible.

Understanding the basics of commercial loans is critical to completing a loan application correctly and not raising unnecessary red flags which will slow down or stop the application evaluation process. Most commercial loans are offered for between 5 and 10 years but the amortization period is up to 25 years. Requesting a loan for a longer period of time is not normally an option but can indicate to lenders that you might be concerned about your ability to pay the loan in full in the allotted time frame. A standard down payment of 20% to 25% is expected on commercial loans. Again, this is a fairly non-negotiable fact as is a loan to value ratio of 80% or less.

One of the first red flags that a borrower can trigger is by demanding an unreasonably fast loan approval process. Some loans and lenders require 90 days or more to process and fund a loan. In a best case, it will require at least 6 weeks to process a loan application even if you have previously worked with the lender and been successfully awarded funds. An experienced and confident borrower knows the timeframe involved and has planned accordingly. Trying to rush the process indicates either inexperience which could jeopardize your approval or that your financial situation is about to change and you want to get approved before your creditworthiness drops.

Another red flag jumps out if you appear to be withholding information or are intentionally providing vague answers. A lag in response time might not be because you are trying to hide information but even if it is because you are not well prepared or are disorganized, the result is still a negative mark against you. Requiring continued requests for the same information is not going to make the lender bored and cause them to stop asking. It is going to make them worried or more curious and they are going to dig even deeper to find the reason for your secrecy.

Be Realistic

Finally, requesting a loan which is in excess of the 80% loan to value standard is going to create unneeded issues. The first thought is that you have not completed you due diligence and you are unaware of the actual property value. This makes you look ill prepared and unprofessional. The other thought is that you are simply disregarding the standards set by the industry. This makes you appear to be unrealistic and also self-absorbed as if the rules do not apply to you. Neither of these will create a positive image for you with the lender.

Avoid Any Unnecessary Issues

Most commercial lenders adhere fairly closely to the industry standards for loan terms. Understanding these terms and being realistic with your request will keep the process moving at or ahead of the average pace. But trying to rush or refusing to honestly answer legitimate questions posed by the lender will only cause unnecessary questioning of your business and financial stability which could eliminate your chance of securing a loan.

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