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Nothing, in our opinion.They are essentially the same, both provide short-term loans to real estate investors at higher interest rates than banks and other institutional lenders. Check out this Guide for more on this topic.
Private Lender Link is not the best resource to find lenders that offer 100% financing or “no money down” loans. Almost all of the lenders in our network require the borrower to have some equity (cash), but there are a few exceptions. If you are seeking a “no money down” loan secured by real estate, check out our 100% Financing Guide to learn about a few options.
Every lender has different credit score requirements. Take a look at each lender’s profile page and find the “Minimum Credit Score” field. Many private lending companies don’t have a minimum score requirement, and will lend only based on the equity in the deal. Most lenders will run a credit check on the borrowers just to make sure there are no judgements or liens which were not disclosed and may have an effect on the new loan.
To make owner-occupied/consumer purpose loans, lenders have to comply with near-impossible requirements. Under Federal “Dodd-Frank” laws, for example, they’re required to document the borrower’s ability to pay – not always possible.
It’s harder to make loans – and it’s harder to collect. When lenders try to
foreclose for non-payment on owner-occupied loans, borrowers have special
rights, often leading to expensive and lengthy litigation.
In California, laws like Financial Code 4970, further limit the ability to lend.
The increased cost and risk of these loans have driven most lenders and brokers out of the market. Business-purpose loans are generally exempt from these requirements - even when they’re secured by an owner-occupied residence.
No fee or payment is required to gain access to the list of lenders on our platform. You don’t even have to register or create an account.
The lenders listed on our platform are private lending companies, not individual investors, including:
We don’t typically list companies that broker loans to other private lending companies, but there are some exceptions. On a few sections of our site, we do list lenders that are not technically private mortgage lenders:
Commercial Long-Term
While our platform is focused on short-term private lending, most borrowers of short-term loans will eventually need a long-term loan. We list some lenders that offer permanent financing for commercial real estate. Most of these companies are not private lenders.
Owner-Occupied
Many people visit our site and think that private lending is only for investors. However, there are some exceptions, and we list some companies that offer loans which are somewhere between a bank loan and a private mortgage.
Small Business
While we primarily list companies that offer loans secured by real estate, many business owners visit our site seeking a private lender offering small business financing. Some of companies listed in this section are private business lenders, and some are business finance brokers.
Non Real Estate Alternatives
We list several companies that offer financing options which are not private mortgages, and some are not secured by real estate. If there is not enough equity in a property, alternative financing options include unsecured credit lines and loans secured by hard assets - art, jewelry, luxury automobiles, etc.
We have experienced several challenges with listing individual investors who do not have a formal company dedicated to private lending.
Reputation
It’s harder for us to vet individual investors. Some may be lending with the intent to own the subject property, and we prefer not to promote this practice.
Lack of funds
Many individual lenders will frequently run out of funds to lend. Private lending companies normally have an endless supply of funds since they are continually raising capital.
Lack of certainty
An investor may be unavailable to provide funds when required.
Professionalism
An individual investor who does not do private lending for a living may not be available to respond to your inquiry.
Licensing
In some states, like California, an individual investor cannot advertise their loan offering to the public without a license.
We don’t mean to offend any individual investors, and there are definitely some advantages to doing business with them. Many are very flexible with terms and may offer higher leverage than a private lending company. Some investors even do joint ventures. It’s just not a good fit for our platform, although this could change in the future.
We do have a directory of mortgage investors which includes individuals, but it is only available to lending companies and private loan originators. If you are an investor seeking private mortgage investment opportunities, click here to sign up and get connected with loan originators.
Private Lender Link is neither a lender or a broker. We operate a platform which advertises private lending companies, investment firms and industry service providers. We do not take an loan applications or negotiate any loans. Some of the lenders on our platform will pay us a marketing success fee when they fund a loan for a lead that found them through our platform. In this situation, we may be considered as a broker just for compensation purposes.
At this time, Private Lender Link only lists lenders for properties the United States. We may soon expand into Canada, as we have already made connections with Canadian private mortgage lenders. We do not have any plans to expand into other countries.
Visit the How it Works section to learn more about getting your company listed on the Private Lender Link platform.
We don’t have a public reviews system where you can publish a positive or negative review of each company. However, we love to hear feedback about the companies listed on our platform and encourage you to provide this information. On each company’s page you will find a “Submit Feedback” link where you can provide your review/feedback. Alternatively, you can just our general feedback form and just mention the name of the company for which you are writing about.
Positive feedback will be sent to the company in question, and they may choose to publish your feedback on their profile page. If you submit negative feedback about a company, we will deal with it internally. We may have a conversation about it with the company and ask them to address the issue.
We may also decide to remove the company from our platform based on negative feedback received, including a bad experience you had, incorrect or deceptive information published on the company’s profile page, lack of response to your inquiry, and other unfavorable experiences.
No, we do not sell our database of lenders or users. If you are looking to promote your services or products to our network, we have some advertising opportunities available. Sign up as a Service Provider and submit some information about your offering.
We are happy to provide some recommendations if you are seeking financing. Just send us an email and provide some basic info about your loan request - loan amount, loan type, property type, property location (city and state), loan purpose, etc. Alternatively, you can log in to your account and submit your Deal. This will be published on the platform and lenders who are interested will contact you directly.
We do not distribute loan requests to all the lenders in our network. However, we do have a system for you to post your loan request on our platform so that lenders can view it and contact you directly if interested.
A loan provided by a non-institutional lender secured by commercial or residential real estate
A loan provided by a non-institutional lender secured by commercial or residential real estate, typically with a short term, less than 3 years
A loan provided by a non-institutional lender secured by commercial or residential real estate, typically with a short term ranging from a few days to 3 years
Short-term financing secured by residential or commercial real estate
Financing for investment real estate, which is a hybrid of debt and equity
Loan-to-Value
Loan-to-Cost
Origination fees charged by a private lender, in addition to the interest rate
Fee charged for paying off a private money or hard money loan early. A number of private lenders do not charge any prepayment penalties and you can pay off your private loan within 30 days if you wanted to. Many private lenders will want to get a minimum interest return, so they may write up the loan with a 12-month term and a 6-month prepay. Every private lender has a different policy and some are willing to negotiate.
Using equity in one or more additional properties to secure a private mortgage
Renovating a property after the acquisition to increase the value
After Repair Value
Real Estate Investment
Letter of Intent. Essentially a “hard” quote which spells out the general terms of a private money or hard money loan, including amount, interest rate, fees, loan term, collateral, etc.
Same as LOI. A document which states the general terms of the private mortgage - including amount, interest rate, fees, loan term, collateral, etc.
A “pre-approval letter” provided by a private money lender to a real estate investor which states that the investor will have the funds needed to purchase a property upon closing.
When a private lender holds a private mortgage secured by a property and is willing to reduce the remaining loan balance in order to be paid off before the end of the loan term. When a private lender offers a discounted payoff, the borrower will typically seek a refinance loan from another private lender.
Borrower’s primary residence or 2nd home. If a residential property has 4 units and the borrower lives in one of the units, the property is still considered as owner-occupied. Any residential property with more than 4 units is considered a commercial property.
When private lenders use this term in the context of a borrower “having liquidity” it typically means a sufficient amount cash in their bank account to cover interest payments and other expenses to operate the investment property during the term of the loan.
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