Wednesday, 7 March 2018

Drawbacks Of Hard Money Construction Loans Seattle

By Amy Taylor


Real estate investors have a wide range of options for construction loans. From bank loans to venture capital, the investors are spoilt for choice on the means of financing their projects. Amongst the options, hard money has grown in stature as a financing option, especially for short-term construction endeavors. This option is attractive for various reasons such as the quick turnaround time, and the easier approval process as compared to ordinary bank loans. Disadvantages also abound. Here are the drawbacks of Hard Money Construction loans Seattle.

The lenders charge high-interest rates several points above commercial banks. The risky nature of this type of lending mechanism necessitates the lenders to raise the rates to cover for bad loans defaults and delayed installment. This risk is transferred to the borrower who then ends up with a bigger burden of servicing the loan.

You will get the fund in a short period of your application if you meet all the qualification. It will allow you start the project on the specified time. The worst thing is that if you are building a structure that has a low rate of return you may experience headaches in refunding the loan. This is the type of loan acquisition offer a short repayment period.

As a sign of commitment and good faith, these types of lenders will require the borrower to place a down payment before disbursement. This requirement may lock out promising start-up businesses that may not afford to raise the amount. This is detrimental to the startup as banks may also be not willing to fund such a risky venture with no credit history.

The cost of processing these type of loans is prohibitive. These charges include the requirement to pay for an attorney who drafts a binding contract to suit the loan particulars, insurance charges in case of the death of an individual borrower and other pre-approval charges. The cumulative cost of the loan makes the borrower suffer deductions on the principal amount. This may end up underfinancing a project leading to further borrowing to plug the deficit.

This category of construction loans are associated with additional costs other than the interest. For instance, you will have to pay some cash when applying for the credit. In most cases, the lending firm will use it to process the application, but it remains a way of getting more from the pockets of their customers. Some will even have some hidden costs that you may not realize during the application.

For any investor, the return on investment is a crucial parameter when deciding the means of financing. Real estate investors need to keep an eye on this as well. A major drawback of hard money comes in due to the high cost and interest rates on the borrowers' shoulders hence affecting the bottom-line and the payback period. Whereas the loan comes in quick into the business, it takes longer to repay and stays longer in the business balance sheet.

The unregulated nature of hard money lending puts the borrower at risk of losing his collateral in case of breach of contracts. Unlike commercial banks which are licensed and regulated by the Federal Reserve, these lenders operate beneath the surface hence difficult to enforce the law in case of disputes.




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