Credit requirements have become more stringent in regards to getting a mortgage loan.  Individuals who are starting out or who have experienced credit difficulties  have few options.  Traditional lenders practice these credit standards to both purchase and refinance.  Once easy, a cash-out refinance is now more difficult.  Individuals who have sufficient equity in their homes are now turning to hard money lenders as the only option of tapping into the equity.  

Generally, a hard money lender will require that the equity in the property is sufficient to warrant a 50% to 65% loan to value.  Under extra circumstances, an individual can get up to 70% if cross-collateralization is also used.  These lenders also charge a substantially greater rate of interest  and the loans usually run anyplace from 3 month to one year.  In rare situations, the loans are for up to 3 years.  Funds from this type of a loan are usually used for a commercial enterprise or investing purpose where the return will exceed the costs of the loan and facilitate the pay back to the lender.   enable the borrower to repay the loan within the alloted timeframe.

While private hard money lenders usually emphasise on investor hard money, sometimes these loans are made on owner-occupied homes.  The reason the lenders prefer non-owner occupied homes is to deflect the consumer laws that protect individuals, relating to foreclosure and other consumer protections.  The accessibility of hard money can be a much better alternate than a pay day loan, because the costs of the loan are considerably less and the borrower can borrow much more money.  

Even people who have declared or been adjudicated bankrupt  can nonetheless qualify for private hard money.  In fact, individuals who have foreclosures can qualify for private hard money.  However, if the hard asset that is securing the loan is encumbered by tax liens, or judgements, the lenders prefer not to loan on properties where it is harder for the lender to get the property back and disposed of in the event  of a default by the borrower.  Investors frequently have credit blemishes and this problem has not afflicted lenders from getting funding through a private money loan source.  In that case, the hard money lenders evaluate the strength of the hard asset securing the property.  The lender also formulates a quick sale value to determine what can be done with the hard asset should a loan go bad.   

Lenders require that investors have  an exit strategy.  The exit strategy deals with how the loan will be paid back and within what timeframe.  This is a major consideration to the lender because it indicates the likeliness and likelihood that the amount borrowed will be the amount the borrower repays  .  Lenders are generally seeking stronger investor exit strategies and prefer situations where the investor already has a pocket purchaser, or a lender approved buyer   for a conventional mortgage loan.  

For credit challenged buyers and investors , the key is to concentrate on developing a strong exit strategy that can be presented to the lender.   Fortunately, loans of this type can still be completed  very quickly and funding within 24 to 48 hours is not uncommon.  In addition, rehab hard money loans are also made by these lenders to facilitate the acquisition, remake and sale of bank owned and government owned real estate.  Transactional lenders and flash funders also fund investors who have buyers in place with conventional mortgage approval is increasing.