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You’re not alone. Nearly one year ago, lenders across the United States froze their fix-and-flip lending programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, the market is strong and a resurgence of programs abounds—with one pesky problem: they’re nearly all the same.

Correctly calculating ARV (After Repair Value) is no cakewalk. The market changes daily – by city, neighborhood, and street. To be a great ARV calculator, you must be equal parts historian, detective, and fortune teller. Perhaps Zen master, too, because the stakes are high: calculating ARV incorrectly can literally cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If you’re not already invested in suburban rental properties, now is the time to start.

Panic is the enemy to your investment strategy. Choosing the right hard money lender might just be the antidote.

Investing in real estate during “unprecedented times” is not for the faint of heart. Nevertheless, savvy, seasoned house flippers recognize that this change in the market presents a great opportunity to outbid and outperform the competition — if you keep moving and adhere to your budget.

As a relationship-oriented private lender, Residential Capital Partners takes pride in who we hire. Our criteria are simple, yet stringent: personal experience in real estate investing and a proven track record of treating investors like partners — as opposed to a transaction. Which is why we’re especially excited to welcome Rodney Young, a former HomeVestors loan development manager — and very familiar face — to our team.

The coronavirus outbreak— and the subsequent turbulence of the stock market—has revealed stark differences between private lenders’ customer service models:

1. There are hard money lenders that rely on Wall Street to buy loans they have placed on a warehouse line. They treat loans as transactions.
2. And, there are lenders that have used their own balance sheet to fund loans. They treat loans as relationships.

Coronavirus has spread across the globe in rapid time, disrupting nearly every industry in its wake. House flipping is no exception. Real estate investors are now forced to navigate new challenges to secure funding. Banks are preoccupied and most hard money or private lenders are either sidelined, denying loans or raising interest rates and cash reserve requirements. The clock is ticking—what do you do?

Scott Gurten and his partner Nick Ferroni have funded five house flips through Residential Capital Partners and counting. Two were house flipping success stories that caught the attention of Philadelphia Magazine.

Their house flip on South 45th street was news-worthy due to Scott and Nick’s masterful renovation. Like many homes in the Northeast, part of the townhome’s charm was its history. Scott and Nick wanted to preserve the home’s character while modernizing key features.

Now that you’ve used fix and flip financing to renovate your most recent rental property, it’s time to put it on the market.