Considering a California hard money loan for your next commercial project or business plan? If that’s where your financing search is headed then it’s important to know the pros and cons.

By know you know California hard money loans are some of the most readily available hard money financing options, which is great for shopping around for the best rates and terms. But, in general, you may be wondering what exactly the benefits or rather advantages of California hard money loans are? Moreover, you may also want to know exactly what the disadvantages are of these particular kinds of loans. Well, the good news is the benefits outweigh the disadvantages by far.

For instance, starting out with the benefits, you will find out early on that these particular loans are approved and funded quickly, which is often the main reason people choose to use hard money in the first place. The next benefit you will find is that hard money financing options have fewer requirements. This means that unlike traditional financing options or bank lending you will not have to deal with an exorbitant amount of red tape. Consequently, common red flags such as bad credit, a previous foreclosure or bankruptcies are less likely to harm your chances of getting approved.

Another major benefit to hard money is the ability to get a project funded that you were unable to get funded or rather financed anywhere else. One common example is a fix and flip project. Often, banks are not interested in short-term lending. This is not to say that banks do not offer short-term options but rather that banks are in the business of making money and the easiest way to do that is to approve long-term loans more often. Furthermore, banks look at these kinds of projects such as a fix and flip as high-risk which only make getting financing harder.

The Pitfalls of Hard Money

So now that we’ve covered the major benefits of all things hard money, let’s talk about those pesky pitfalls and disadvantages. The top disadvantage when dealing with hard money financing is of course that higher than average interest rate. But, in reality, just as banks need to make a profit and are concerned about high-risk borrowers, non-bank lenders need to see some return on their investment hence the higher rates. Disadvantage number 2 is the fact that hard money financing is only available for short-term use. This means if you are looking for financing for a project that others have deemed high-risk for more than 1-5 years you may have to look elsewhere.

Commercial Hard Money

Lastly, hard money loans require either a minimum amount of equity i.e. at least 25% or a significant down payment. In the world of Commercial hard money, that minimum amount becomes 40% and the down payment is much larger. This increase is ultimately due to the fact that if there is a default, selling the commercial property is much harder to do and often requires a discounted sale price in order to recoup what the non-bank lender lost.

Dennis Dahlberg Broker/RI/CEO/MLO
Level 4 Funding LLC
Arizona Tel:  (623) 582-4444
Texas Tel:      (512) 516-1177
Dennis@level4funding.com
https://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.