Are you a first-time home flipper looking for renovation financing? Or have you been investing in real estate and flipping houses for several years? If either of these situations apply, then you’re probably aware that in 2014 alone, 327,069 homes were repossessed. Many of these homes may be in poor condition, so the need for renovation lending is apparent.

While there are a number of reasons to invest in commercial real estate, expanding your business and investment portfolio may be at the top of your list. If you have already been making real estate investments for quite some time, and are looking for real estate investment lenders for a new or ongoing series of projects, you may be interested in knowing more about hard money rehab loans.

First of all, the interest rates are higher with hard money rehab loans. They do, however, have lower loan- to-value ratios. A hard money loan’s interest rate might range from 15%-to-18% or more.

Secondly, there are faster turnaround times with a hard money deal. These may only take one-to-two weeks in order to process.

Thirdly, the payment period is also shorter for a private loan. When comparing these loans with traditional bank loans, private loans extend for up to five years, while a traditional bank loan payment period is from one year up to 20 years.

If you were previously considering a standard bank loan, then you are probably aware that there are several stipulations for this type of loan:

You need to have been in business for two or more years.

You need to have a minimum of $250,000 in annual revenue or income.

You need to have good personal and business credit.

You need to have a consistent cash flow.

When you apply for secured short term loans, one of the operative terms is “secured.” If you are interested in obtaining a hard money loan, most of them need to be secured by an existing property you own. More specifically, the property you put up to secure your loan will need to have approximately 30%-to-50%.

When you are looking for hard money mortgage lenders, remember to consider the benefits of these types of loans over traditional bank loans.