The vast majority of Americans tend to consider banks to be the “go-to place” to obtain financing. If a businessman needs a multipurpose line of credit for their day-to-day operations, or a working capital loan, or a loan to acquire a specialized piece of equipment, or maybe a young entrepreneur is looking to start a new business, they will most likely talk to a bank about obtaining a business purpose loan. The same goes for a young adult or a head of household looking for an auto loan, or a loan for purchasing a new appliance to replace a broken one, or just looking for the benefit of having a credit card: they will usually talk to the bank in which they have their savings or checking account.
That is what banks do every day: on one side they take people’s money, offer the client a safe place to stash their savings, and pay them some interest while offering different means of accessing their money (this is called the “deposit taking” side of the banking equation) and on the other side banks will loan out this money and charge for the use of these resources (this is called the “lending” side of the banking equation). Furthermore, most retail banks, that is, the bank closest to your home or office, offer both business purpose and consumer loans and as such, they could be considered “generalists” when it comes to lending money.
But when it comes to real estate, Hard Money Lenders like AMI Lenders should be the first stop for anyone looking for a real estate loan. For example, here at AMI Lenders, not unlike other private money lenders in the US, we are quite the experts on real estate financing because all our loans are Real Estate loans.
This level of expertise on a specific industry does make a difference for an investor looking to obtain real estate financing. Among many reasons why an investor should choose a Hard Money Loan over a Bank Loan, we can at least discern the following.
Based on over our decades long experience, AMI Lenders can provide better advice and better service to Real Estate investors/borrowers than a generalist financier.
By concentrating strictly on real estate we’ve become experts. Therefore, experienced hard money lenders like AMI Lenders should know in an instant if they can help the borrower. The client does not have to wait for weeks for an answer; plus, the hard-money lender should be able to either approve the loan or explain why they can’t.
Because AMI Lenders only does Real Estate loans, our expertise extends beyond the financial and legal aspects of purchasing a residential or commercial real estate property.
When analyzing a real estate loan application, our due diligence process includes a deep analysis of the property being purchased to gauge its worth/viability as an investment, something that could really save a lot of headaches for the borrower. This is something usually banks will not do, but if they do, they might not communicate it to the loan applicant, and even then, it might not be an analysis with the depth of knowledge that AMI Lenders analyses the property. This analysis is clearly a benefit to the lender (else we would not spend too much time on it) and also it is clearly a benefit to the borrower.
A few examples might help illustrate this point.
- We received a request to finance someone’s homestead, but it was on an airport and had a home with 4 airplane hangars (yes, four hangars!). We knew immediately this loan was not doable. How many buyers are there for a home with 4 airplane hangars? (With the known exception of Mr. John Travolta in Florida. Would he consider moving to Texas?).
- Another request was to finance several hundred acres of land near San Antonio, but the loan had to close in less than four days. We spent zero time saying we cannot finance you in such a short time! Some banks take weeks to approve or decline a loan and will take an application even when knowing that internal processes do not allow for a quick response.
At AMI Lenders we know immediately if a loan is doable. It might take us a week to complete our due diligence, but we know it’s a loan we could finance if the information we were given is correct.
Additionally, if AMI Lenders finds that we cannot (should not) help the loan applicant, we will provide a detailed explanation of the reasons why so that the borrower can be more prepared next time. Again, this is something most banks won’t do.
Because all we do are real estate loans, we can provide a decision very quickly.
Since all our loans are real estate financing, we can tell very fast whether AMI Lenders can help a borrower or not. This is helpful to borrowers because most banks (and even other hard money lenders) sometimes take weeks to provide an answer to the investor, which can be problematic for the latter. For example, the investor may lose the property to another investor if he/she is not able to move fast enough to secure the proper financing. On the other hand, waiting for weeks to find out that you are not approved is also a big waste of time for the investor.
An applicant does not need a “squeaky clean” credit record to apply and get a real estate loan at AMI Lenders
Having real estate as a loan guarantee, and not having to comply with Basilea II regulations (that’s a term for international banking best practices, risk management and capitalization regulations), at AMI Lenders we can take the risk of accepting someone’s loan application with a less-than-ideal credit record that a bank most likely cannot even evaluate (mostly due to heavily stringent capital requirements in case that it should become a non-performing loan).
Summary
If you are looking for a real estate loan, consider applying for a hard money loan instead of a bank loan. Furthermore, if you are in the Houston area looking for a hard money residential loan or commercial loan (“una hipoteca con un prestamista privado” in Spanish), look no further. At AMI Lenders, our advice as mortgage lenders is always geared toward financing the right investment property at the right price, for the right reasons and with the appropriate loan terms.
We are one of Houston's fastest hard money lenders when it comes to closings, and we will become your financial ally. We fund our loans and can close loans as fast as the law allows. Houston Borrowers will also have difficulty finding better rates for hard money loans or private loans than those we offer.
We want our customers to succeed and take advantage of the financial opportunities provided by investing in real estate. Visit our website today and fill out an application for a loan backed by a mortgage. We speak Spanish, by the way.
