Financing
Assumable loans and why they matter again
A low-rate mortgage attached to a property has become a significant asset in its own right, and a minority of loans allow it to transfer.
Financing
Loans, rates, refinancing and leverage risk.
Financing
Paying off the mortgage early, or not
A question with a clear mathematical answer and a legitimate non-mathematical one, and the two frequently disagree.
Financing
The HELOC and other ways to use existing equity
Equity in a property you already own is the most accessible capital most investors have, and the most dangerous to deploy carelessly.
Financing
What lenders look at besides the property
The property is one of four things being underwritten, and the other three are about you.
Financing
Interest rate caps, swaps and floating-rate debt
Floating-rate borrowing transfers rate risk to you, and the instruments that hedge it have costs and expiry dates that recently caught a great many people out.
Financing
Bridge loans and the exit that has to exist
Short-term debt solves a timing problem and creates a deadline, and the deadline does not care whether your plan worked.
Financing
Working with a mortgage broker versus going direct
Different channels reach different lenders, and the investor who only ever calls their own bank is seeing a fraction of the market.
Financing
Personal guarantees and what recourse really means
Non-recourse does not mean no personal exposure, and the carve-outs are where the exposure lives.
Financing
Seller financing, from both sides of the table
A genuine tool with real advantages for both parties, surrounded by more nonsense than almost any other topic in the business.
Financing
When refinancing makes sense, and when it is just fees
Refinancing has three legitimate purposes and one common bad reason, and telling them apart requires only arithmetic.
Financing
Conventional, portfolio, DSCR and hard money
Four broad categories of investor lending, each with a purpose, and the cost of using the wrong one is measured in points.
Financing
How much should you put down?
The maximum leverage available is rarely the right amount, and the arithmetic that argues otherwise assumes nothing goes wrong.
Financing
Fixed, adjustable and everything in between
Rate structure matters more to outcomes than the headline rate, and the difference shows up years after closing.