The quick read: Compare Green Bay hard money lenders on the exit each one will underwrite, not only on the rate. Put every quote side by side on points, rate, leverage basis, draw mechanics and extension terms, then test each lender against one local rule: the City of Green Bay says its short-term rental permit is non-transferable and valid from July 1 to June 30, so a nightly-rental exit does not convey with the property and the buyer must apply for a new permit. Next door, Ashwaubenon's code requires a six-consecutive-night minimum on non-owner-occupied single- and two-family rentals. A lender that values your rehab on transferable nightly income is valuing a permit you cannot sell.
How do you compare hard money lenders on a Green Bay rehab or small rental?
You compare hard money lenders on a Green Bay rehab or small rental by sending each one the same file and asking for written answers on points, rate, leverage basis, draws, extensions and the exit it will underwrite, because the exit is where Green Bay's permit rules and its small-building housing stock change the numbers.
The Census Bureau's 2025 annual building permit file for the Green Bay metro counts 832 single-family units, 84 two-unit buildings holding 168 units, no three- or four-unit buildings, and 18 buildings of five or more units holding 413 units, about 23 units per building by our arithmetic. Permits here run to single-family homes and duplexes.
The rate is the least informative line on a quote. Two lenders at the same rate can differ by thousands of dollars once points, draw fees and extension fees are priced on your loan amount, so ask for every fee in dollars and for the leverage cap on cost, on after-repair value or the lesser of the two. Then ask which municipality the appraiser will place the property in, because Green Bay, De Pere and Ashwaubenon write separate permit rules.
Why does Green Bay's short-term rental permit change how a lender should value the exit?
Green Bay's short-term rental permit changes how a lender should value the exit because the city says the permit is non-transferable, runs July 1 to June 30 and is needed for a stay under 28 consecutive days unless it is a homeshare, so a buyer inherits your booking history but not the right to keep hosting nightly guests.
The city's short-term rental page FAQ says the permit is non-transferable and a new permit will be required if the property changes ownership. The initial fee is $500; renewal is $250 between April 1 and June 30 and $500 after that, and a missed renewal voids the permit. Review can take up to 14 business days, and every rental also needs a yearly Brown County Health Inspection, listed at $492 initial and $350 renewal.
That rule decides what the after-repair value can include. A buyer of a rehabbed duplex that has been hosting nightly guests pays the $500 initial fee and the $492 initial inspection, $992 before the first booking by our arithmetic, and waits for a new permit. Stays longer than 28 consecutive days are exempt from the city ordinance, so a monthly furnished rental is the fallback exit. Ask each lender whether its appraisal rests on closed sales of comparable duplexes, which ignores the permit, or capitalizes nightly revenue, which assumes a permit the buyer does not yet hold.
State law sits on top. Wisconsin Statutes section 66.1014 bars local governments from prohibiting rentals of 7 consecutive days or longer, lets them cap rentals of more than 6 but fewer than 30 consecutive days at no fewer than 180 days in any 365-day period, and requires anyone operating a short-term rental more than 10 nights a year to hold a state tourist rooming house license. DATCP says its revised ATCP 72 rules took effect January 25, 2026, and its fee table lists a $296 annual fee and a $592 one-time pre-inspection for one tourist rooming house.
How do Ashwaubenon and De Pere change the comparison next to Green Bay?
Ashwaubenon and De Pere change the comparison because each is a separate municipality with its own rules, and the code of Ashwaubenon, the village that borders Lambeau Field, requires non-owner-occupied single- and two-family short-term rentals to be rented at least six consecutive nights by any one person or party.
Article 6-13 of the village code, in the code book updated August 26, 2026, spells out the rest. A village license is required above 10 rental nights a year, alongside a state tourist rooming house license, a seller's permit and a room tax permit. Total rental days within any 365-day license period shall not exceed 180 consecutive days, licenses run July 1 to June 30, and renewal needs a village inspection dated within a year. An exception without the word consecutive covers only licenses of record for July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023 and is void upon any change of ownership or sale, so a buyer gets the consecutive cap. Licensed owner-occupied units are exempt from the six-night minimum.
For event-driven demand, the six-night rule is the whole underwriting question. A Friday-to-Sunday game-weekend stay is shorter than six nights, so a lender crediting game-weekend nightly rates on a non-owner-occupied Ashwaubenon house is crediting stays the code does not allow. Ask it to underwrite a six-night calendar within the 180-consecutive-day cap or a long-term lease, and to say which.
De Pere is a separate city with its own plan commission and permitting, so a Green Bay entitlement assumption does not carry over. The Census Bureau's 2025 place-level file counts 63 single-family homes, 3 two-unit buildings and one 60-unit building permitted there, and 48 single-family homes and no multifamily buildings in Ashwaubenon. On a De Pere rehab, ask whether the draw schedule and maturity allow for De Pere's own permit timeline.
What do Green Bay's permit and rent numbers say about the exit a lender should underwrite?
Green Bay's permit and rent numbers say a realistic exit for most rehabs is a small rental or a resale into existing stock, because the city permitted only seven two-unit buildings in 2025, and HUD's FY2027 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent for the metro sets a $1,287 monthly benchmark for the rent roll.
The Census Bureau's 2025 place-level permit file counts, for the City of Green Bay, 56 single-family homes, 7 two-unit buildings holding 14 units and 9 buildings of five or more units holding 213 units. An older duplex in Astor Park or along Olde Main Street competes mostly with other older duplexes, so the comparable-sales set should be older frame duplexes, not new construction. And the 213 units permitted citywide in 2025 in buildings of five or more units are future lease-up competition for any rental exit, so ask how the lender treats vacancy if they reach the market while you lease up.
HUD's FY2027 Fair Market Rents for the Green Bay metro are $979 for a studio, $1,028 for one bedroom, $1,287 for two, $1,697 for three and $1,765 for four, up from $1,164 for two bedrooms and $1,545 for three in HUD's revised FY2026 file. HUD describes them as estimates of 40th percentile gross rents for standard quality units. Use them to sanity-check a rent roll, not as a lease quote.
Which term-sheet lines should a Green Bay borrower compare side by side?
A Green Bay borrower should compare eight term-sheet lines side by side: leverage basis, the comparable-sales set, exit underwriting, points, draws, term and extension, occupancy and jurisdiction, because each one moves the cash you need or the exit you can rely on more than a quarter point of rate does.
Table: Green Bay hard money term-sheet lines and the local reason each matters (sources: City of Green Bay short-term rental page; Village of Ashwaubenon Article 6-13; Wis. Stat. 66.1014; CFPB Regulation Z commentary; Census Bureau 2025 permits)
| Term-sheet line | What to get in writing | Why it matters in Green Bay |
|---|---|---|
| Term-sheet line Leverage basis | What to get in writing The cost cap, the ARV cap and which one binds | Why it matters in Green Bay The city permitted 7 two-unit buildings in 2025, so older duplex sales carry the ARV |
| Term-sheet line Comparable sales | What to get in writing The closed sales the appraiser will use | Why it matters in Green Bay Older frame duplexes in Astor Park or Olde Main Street, not new construction |
| Term-sheet line Exit underwriting | What to get in writing Long-term lease, monthly furnished or nightly | Why it matters in Green Bay Green Bay's permit does not transfer; Ashwaubenon requires six consecutive nights |
| Term-sheet line Points and fees | What to get in writing Every fee as a dollar figure on your loan | Why it matters in Green Bay One point on a $216,750 loan is $2,167.50 |
| Term-sheet line Draws | What to get in writing Inspection timing, number of draws and fee per draw | Why it matters in Green Bay Slow draws stretch the carry on a project whose exit may need a new permit |
| Term-sheet line Term and extension | What to get in writing Extension fee, length and conditions | Why it matters in Green Bay Renewals run April 1 to June 30; a missed renewal voids the permit |
| Term-sheet line Occupancy | What to get in writing Business-purpose status and any owner use | Why it matters in Green Bay Regulation Z treats more than 14 days of owner use in a year as owner-occupied |
| Term-sheet line Jurisdiction | What to get in writing Which municipality's rules the lender applied | Why it matters in Green Bay Green Bay, De Pere and Ashwaubenon are separate municipalities with separate permits |
Regulation Z's official commentary deems credit on a rental the owner does not occupy to be business-purpose, but a property the owner expects to occupy more than 14 days in the coming year cannot be treated as non-owner-occupied, and acquisition credit on an owner-occupied rental is deemed business-purpose only when it has more than 2 housing units, a rule a 2-unit owner-occupied duplex does not meet. If you will live in one side of a duplex, or use a game-weekend house yourself, say so first.
How does an illustrative Astor Park duplex rehab compare under two exits?
An illustrative Astor Park duplex rehab puts the permit rule into dollars: the loan is set by whichever leverage cap binds first, and the exit the lender assumes decides whether the after-repair value holds; every input below is our assumption for illustration, not a Green Bay valuation, rent survey or lender quote.
Illustrative purchase (our assumption): $200,000 for an older two-unit frame house in Astor Park
Illustrative rehab budget (our assumption): $55,000, for a total project cost of $255,000
Illustrative after-repair value (our assumption): $310,000, to be replaced with recent closed sales of older duplexes
Cost cap at an assumed 85% of cost (our arithmetic): $216,750
ARV cap at an assumed 70% of after-repair value (our arithmetic): $217,000
Loan at the lesser of the two (our arithmetic): $216,750, leaving $38,250 of your own cash before points, closing costs and carry
Cost of one point (our arithmetic): $2,167.50
Long-term rent benchmark (HUD FY2027 Fair Market Rent, two 2-bedroom units): $2,574 a month gross, or $30,888 a year
Buyer's first-year Green Bay permit cost for a nightly exit (city figures, our arithmetic): $992, with a new permit required after the sale
Exit one is a sale or refinance as a long-term duplex. The buyer's lender underwrites a lease, HUD's benchmark gives a gross figure to test the rent roll against, and the after-repair value rests on closed duplex sales, with no permit involved.
Exit two is a sale as a nightly rental. The bookings you built prove demand, but the permit stays with you: the buyer applies for a new one, pays $992 before the first stay and waits for city review. If the buyer's lender will not credit nightly revenue until that permit issues, the price looks like exit one's, and an ARV built on nightly income was never available. Read each lender's answer next to its extension terms: a hold past June 30 without an on-time renewal voids your permit, and reapplying costs $500.
If the same house sat in Ashwaubenon, exit two would have to be underwritten on stays of at least six consecutive nights, with rental days in the license year not to exceed 180 consecutive days, which looks more like a furnished monthly rental than a game-weekend calendar.
How do I get a Green Bay hard money loan placed with lenders competing for it?
You get a Green Bay hard money loan placed with lenders competing for it by sending one lender-ready file through a commercial mortgage brokerage first, so the same budget, comparable sales, permit status and exit plan reach many programs at once and the written answers on points, draws and extensions come back comparable.
The brokerage route comes first because it does this comparison work for you. YieldStack is an AI-native commercial mortgage brokerage that arranges financing for commercial real estate investors. Its software screens the Green Bay file against 20,000+ loan programs and lines up the options; its brokers structure the request, negotiate points, draw terms and extensions on the borrower's side, and carry the loan toward closing. The median first offer arrives in under an hour, from an institutional lender. Every credit decision is made by the lender; YieldStack arranges the introductions and negotiates on the borrower's side, and no loan, rate, or closing is guaranteed.
The other routes still work. Calling local private lenders yourself can find a relationship lender who knows older-duplex comps, but you carry the comparison and the negotiation. A bank rehab line can price well for a borrower with deposits and a track record, but expect it to ask for fuller documentation.
Have this ready before you ask for terms:
- Purchase contract: with the closing date that drives the timeline.
- Line-item rehab budget: scope by unit and trade, contractor bids and a milestone draw schedule.
- Closed duplex sales and current leases: older two-unit sales near the property, not new construction.
- Permit and municipality status: whether the property is in Green Bay, De Pere or Ashwaubenon, any short-term rental permit, and the Brown County inspection date.
- Exit plan: long-term lease, monthly furnished rental or nightly rental, with the rent you expect and the evidence for it.
- Track record and liquidity: past projects, a schedule of real estate owned and proof of the cash going in.
When the file is ready, send the Green Bay deal for review. It costs Zero upfront to submit a deal and review offers; YieldStack's broker fee is 0.50–1.00% of the loan amount and is paid only at closing. Local context is on the Green Bay market hub and the Wisconsin market hub, and the Appleton hard money comparison covers Wisconsin's interest-rate rules for loans to an LLC.
The bottom line
Compare Green Bay hard money lenders on points, rate, leverage basis, draws, extensions and, above all, the exit each one underwrites, with every answer in writing. The city's short-term rental permit is non-transferable and runs July 1 to June 30, Ashwaubenon requires six consecutive nights on non-owner-occupied houses, and HUD's $1,287 two-bedroom benchmark is the figure to test a long-term rental exit against. Price the rehab on the exit a buyer can actually inherit.