Resources for real estate investors
Plain-English guides and free tools to help you finance your next deal.
Fix & flip and bridge loans
How Fix and Flip Loans Work
How loans are sized, how draws work, what they cost and how to plan your exit.
Read the guideFix and Flip Loan Costs
Interest, points, fees and holding costs, and what a flip really costs to finance.
Read the guideWhat Is ARV?
After-repair value explained: how to estimate it and how lenders use it to size your loan.
Read the guideWhat Is a Bridge Loan?
Short-term financing that lets you close fast, and when investors use it.
Read the guideFix and Flip Loans for First-Time Flippers
How lenders treat a first deal, what to have ready and how to improve your odds.
Read the guideBRRRR Method Financing
The right loan for each step of buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat.
Read the guideConstruction
How Ground-Up Construction Loans Work
Budgets, draws and what lenders want to see before they fund a build.
Read the guideDSCR rental loans
What Is a DSCR Loan?
How the debt service coverage ratio works, what lenders look at and who DSCR loans fit.
Read the guideHow to Calculate DSCR
The formula, two worked examples and the mistakes that throw off the number.
Read the guideDSCR Loan Requirements
Credit, down payment, reserves, property types and documents lenders ask for.
Read the guideNo-Income-Verification Investment Loans
How you can qualify on the property's rent instead of tax returns, and what lenders look at instead.
Read the guideDSCR Loans for Short-Term Rentals
How Airbnb and vacation rental income is measured, and the questions to ask any lender.
Read the guideDSCR Cash-Out Refinance
How investors pull equity from a rental, typical limits, costs and what to weigh first.
Read the guideDSCR Prepayment Penalties
What 5-4-3-2-1 means, when you would pay it and how to plan around it.
Read the guideDSCR vs Conventional Loans
A side-by-side look at the two ways to finance a rental, and when each makes sense.
Read the comparisonGetting started
Hard Money vs Private Lender vs Bank
Three ways to finance an investment property, compared by speed, cost and flexibility.
Read the comparisonBuying a Rental in an LLC
Why investors use LLCs, how lenders treat them and what to sort out before you apply.
Read the guideFree tools
Deal Analyzer
Real closed sales, value range, rehab estimate and financed vs. all-cash profit for your deal, as a PDF.
Analyze a dealRate & Loan Estimator
A ballpark rate range and loan amount for your deal in about a minute.
Try the estimatorFix & Flip Calculator
Estimate your costs and profit on a flip before you make an offer.
Open the calculator