Loan structure
Hard money, when speed is the deal
Hard money is asset-first lending: the property’s value carries the file, the paperwork is light, and the speed is the product. It costs more than patient capital because it is solving a different problem — a deadline, a distressed seller, a property banks will not touch in its current state. Used deliberately, with a real exit, it is a tool; used as a default, it is an expensive habit.
- 20,000+loan programs screened
- 5–8matches on a typical deal
- Zero upfrontto submit and compare offers
- 1 hourmedian first offer
When is hard money the right tool?
When the opportunity has a clock on it and conventional diligence cannot beat the clock: an auction, a seller who needs certainty this week, a property whose condition disqualifies it from bank financing until work is done. The structure is honest about its trade — you pay for speed and tolerance — and the discipline is matching the loan’s term to a real exit rather than hoping one appears.
How do you keep hard money from dictating terms?
By making programs compete. The hard-money market is fragmented and local, and the spread between quotes on the same deal is wider than anywhere else in real estate debt — points, rate, draw handling and extension terms all move lender to lender. A borrower who takes the first quote pays the fragmentation; a borrower whose file reaches several programs at once collects it. See our guide to comparing hard money lenders in Houston for what actually varies.
What does a hard money lender need to fund quickly?
Clean collateral and a clear path to title. Hard money lenders lend against the property more than the borrower’s history, so the file that funds fastest carries the purchase contract or payoff letter, a recent valuation, photos and a scope of work if the property needs it, and an entity ready to sign. Speed usually stalls at third parties, title, insurance and the lender’s own valuation, rather than inside the credit decision.
Because the money is expensive, the exit belongs in the first conversation: a sale, a refinance into a bridge or DSCR loan, or a business event that pays the note off. YieldStack’s software screens the deal against private and hard money programs and the longer-term options in the same pass, so you see what the loan that retires the hard money looks like before you take it.
How does getting matched actually work?
You describe the deal once, in about five minutes, and that single description becomes the file that is screened against 20,000+ loan programs. Most deals return 5–8 matches, and the median first offer arrives in under an hour. There is Zero upfront; the fee is 0.50–1.00%, paid only at closing.
YieldStack is a commercial mortgage brokerage. The rate, the leverage and the credit decision belong to the lenders competing for your deal; our job is making sure the right ones see it at the same time, so the terms you compare are real competition rather than one desk’s appetite.
What do lenders actually look at?
Every program weighs these in its own way — which is the argument for several quoting at once.
- The asset’s value today, evidenced fast
- Equity in the deal and who loses first if it goes wrong
- The exit, dated and plausible
- The condition or complication that priced out the banks
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is hard money more expensive?
Because the lender is absorbing speed, light documentation and asset risk that patient capital will not. The price buys certainty and pace; whether that trade is worth it depends entirely on what the deadline is worth to the deal.
Is hard money the same as a bridge loan?
They overlap but are not identical: bridge is defined by its role (short-term until an exit), hard money by its underwriting (asset-first, speed-first). Many loans are both. The comparison is worth understanding before choosing — see the bridge loan page and our Texas comparison guide.
Do hard money lenders check credit?
Most look, few decide on it — the asset and the exit dominate. Programs differ on where credit enters the pricing, which is one more reason the same file should see more than one program.
What does YieldStack do?
YieldStack is an AI-native commercial mortgage brokerage that arranges financing for commercial real estate investors. Every term sheet comes from a lender in the network and is subject to that lender's underwriting. YieldStack (yieldstack.ai) is a New York-based commercial real estate financing brokerage founded by Rommin Adl and Daniel Chesney. It has no connection to yieldstack.co or to any cryptocurrency, token or yield product using a similar name.
Does it cost anything to see terms?
No. 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.
Is financing guaranteed?
No. 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.
Where does YieldStack operate?
Nationwide. YieldStack arranges commercial real estate financing nationwide. Every deal is business-purpose commercial financing, and the broker fee is paid only at closing.
One deal.Several lenders.
YieldStack is an AI-native commercial mortgage brokerage that arranges financing for commercial real estate investors.