Fix and flip loans with no money down

The one published 100% structure

Rehab Financial Group publishes 100% of purchase price and 100% of rehab. It is genuinely the only such structure in the twelve lenders collected, and it does not appear in our comparison table because RFG is broker-channel — a borrower cannot apply directly, which is the same reason three other lenders are not rows.

Its published requirements alongside that financing are the useful part. RFG requires documented liquidity of the greater of $15,000 or 25% of the rehab budget, plus closing costs which it states may not be financed, plus savings sufficient to cover roughly six months of carrying costs — taxes, insurance and utilities. On a $60,000 rehab that is $15,000 of liquidity before closing costs and before reserves.

The leverage cap is a ladder rather than a number, too. RFG publishes 65% of ARV at a 650 credit score, 70% at 700, and 75% only at 700 with one completed project with RFG or three elsewhere. So "650 minimum" and "up to 75% of ARV" are both published and no single borrower can have both at once.

What 100% usually means on a product page

Most of the time it refers to the rehab side only, and on that the set is fairly uniform: Kiavi, New Silver, Lima One, LendingOne and Park Place all publish 100% of the rehab budget financed. That is a real and useful thing, and it is not the same as no money down — the purchase side still needs your equity.

Kiavi is the exception worth reading carefully. Its fix-and-flip page states up to 100% loan-to-cost in the hero and up to 95% loan-to-cost twice in the FAQ on the same page. Both figures are published, and we record both rather than picking one.

Park Place publishes 100% of rehab financed at both experience tiers, with a cap of $250,000 on the zero-to-two-flip tier. A percentage on its own hides that ceiling completely.

The cash a no-money-down loan still needs

Rehab funds are held back and released in draws. At the lenders that describe the process, a draw follows an inspection of completed work — which means the contractor is paid from your pocket and repaid days later. Groundfloor publishes a three to five business day turnaround, Lima One advertises 24-hour draws, Easy Street around 48 hours after inspection approval. At the peak of a project you can be fronting several times what the unfinanced share of the budget suggests.

Only one of the thirteen lenders in the comparison publishes whether its draws are advanced before work or reimbursed after it, which is probably the single largest driver of how much of your own cash a project ties up. Ask before you sign, and ask it as a question about mechanism rather than speed.

Closing costs are the other reliable surprise, and most lenders here do not publish them at all. Park Place is one of the two that do: document preparation $1,495, third-party attorney fee $535, appraisal typically $500 to $700. Kiavi charges no application fee and no appraisal. Groundfloor charges a three-month minimum interest requirement on early repayment.

Common questions

Is 100% financing for a flip real?

As a financing structure, yes — Rehab Financial Group publishes 100% of purchase and 100% of rehab. As a way to do a deal without cash, no. The same lender separately requires the greater of $15,000 or 25% of the rehab budget in documented liquidity, closing costs that may not be financed, and roughly six months of carrying reserves. Every other lender we collected finances up to 100% of rehab but requires equity on the purchase.

What is the lowest down payment published in this set?

About 10% of purchase price. Easy Street Capital's FAQ states a minimum 10% down payment for fix and flip, and Park Place publishes a down payment of as little as 10% for experienced borrowers, or roughly 15% on a first flip. Lima One publishes up to 95% loan-to-cost when the rehab budget is under half the purchase price, and LendingOne publishes 92.5% loan-to-cost.

Why do the leverage percentages not compare cleanly?

Because they are measured against different things. Some lenders publish loan-to-cost, with purchase and rehab both in the denominator. Some publish a share of purchase price with rehab funded separately. Some publish loan-to-value. On a rehab-heavy deal the same percentage produces materially different loans, which is why the comparison table prints the basis in every cell and does not let the column be sorted.

Keep reading

• Fix and Flip Loans for Beginners
• Bad Credit Hard Money Loans
• Hard Money Lenders With No Credit Check
• Fix & Flip Cost of Capital CalculatorWhat a quote actually costs once points, fees and the interest accrual basis are in it.