Two very different searches land on this page, so let us sort them in the first paragraph rather than waste your time. We finance business-purpose loans secured by real estate. We do not do working capital, SBA loans, equipment finance or merchant advances.
If you need capital to run a business — payroll, inventory, equipment, a line of credit, an SBA 7(a) — we are not your lender and we will not pretend otherwise. That is bank and SBA territory, and sending you round in circles helps nobody.
If you need money to buy, renovate, build or refinance income property, that is business-purpose lending and it is exactly what we place. Fix and flip, bridge, ground-up construction, DSCR rentals, and commercial from multi-family through self storage.
The distinction is not marketing. It is a legal category with specific consequences, and understanding it is genuinely useful to an investor — so the rest of this page is about what business-purpose actually means, what it buys you, and the one rule that quietly voids it.
Under Regulation Z at 12 CFR 1026.3, credit extended primarily for a business, commercial or agricultural purpose is exempt from the disclosure and protection requirements that govern consumer mortgages. The rules that make a home purchase slow and heavily documented were written to protect someone buying a place to live. An investor is doing something else.
Two routes into the exemption matter in practice.
The categorical rule. Credit to acquire, improve or maintain non-owner-occupied rental property is deemed business purpose. Not argued case by case — categorically. That is why almost every rental and flip loan in the country is written this way.
The entity rule. Credit extended to a bona fide business entity rather than to an individual sits outside these consumer rules regardless of purpose. This is why lenders ask you to hold title in an LLC, and why it is standard rather than exotic.
Where a loan does not fall cleanly into either, the Official Commentary sets out a five-factor test: the borrower's occupation, the level of personal involvement in the transaction, the ratio of income from the property to total income, the size of the transaction, and the borrower's stated purpose. That last one is why every lender asks you to state, in writing, what the money is for — and why answering it loosely is a bad idea.
This is the detail that catches people, and almost nobody publishes it.
The business-purpose treatment of a non-owner-occupied rental depends on it genuinely being non-owner-occupied. If the owner expects to occupy the property for more than fourteen days during the coming year, the loan is treated as a consumer loan — with the full Truth in Lending and ability-to-repay requirements attached — unless the property contains more than two housing units.
So the beach condo you will rent out but use for three weeks each summer is not the straightforward business-purpose file you assumed. Nor is the duplex where you will live in one side, which is owner-occupied regardless of the rental income from the other.
Say so at application. A borrower who discloses intended personal use up front gets routed to the right product. A borrower who discloses it later, or not at all, creates a compliance problem for the lender and a dead deal for himself — and unwinding a misclassified loan is far more expensive than never writing it.
What you get. No tax returns, no W-2s, no employment verification, no debt-to-income test. Qualification runs on the deal — the purchase contract, the renovation budget, the rent roll, the reserves. Title vests in an entity as a matter of course. Interest-only structures are routinely available. And closings run in days rather than the forty-five to sixty a conventional lender needs, because most of what takes that long is consumer compliance that does not apply.
For a self-employed borrower, a contractor, or an investor with heavy depreciation write-offs, this is often the difference between financing and no financing. Your tax return understates your position by design; the property does not.
What it costs. The consumer protections come off with the paperwork. There is no mandated Loan Estimate three days after application and no Closing Disclosure three days before signing. Most lenders behave well anyway; some use that gap to keep terms vague until you are committed. The defence is to demand the full terms in a written term sheet early — rate, points, prepayment penalty, reserves, maximum loan-to-value, seasoning. We wrote the longer version of that on comparing lenders and on how to vet one.
What does not come off. Business-purpose lending is not unregulated lending, and anyone implying otherwise is telling you something about themselves. The Equal Credit Opportunity Act applies to business credit as it does to consumer credit. Fair housing obligations apply to residential real estate transactions regardless of whether the borrower is a person or a company. Fair credit reporting, servicemember protections and flood insurance requirements all still apply. Exempt from Truth in Lending is not exempt from the law.
Fix and flip and bridge from 10.99 percent with 1.99 points, up to 100 percent of cost and 70 percent of value, minimum loan $50,000, terms to twelve months, minimum credit score 600. Ground-up construction from 8.5 percent on non-owner-occupied single family, $100,000 to $3 million, minimum 650. DSCR rental loans from 5.99 percent, $75,000 to $2 million, up to 80 percent of value, no minimum credit score, cross-collateral across two or more properties. Commercial to $5 million at up to 75 percent of value, covering multi-family, mixed use, self storage, office, retail and industrial.
All non-owner-occupied, business purpose, held in an entity. There is also a rate match: a fully executed letter of intent from a competing lender, no contingencies, meeting the same underwriting, and the interest rate gets matched. Rate only, and not a commitment to fund.
The commercial programme is the one worth knowing about if your business owns its own premises. A business buying or refinancing the building it operates from is a commercial real estate transaction rather than a working capital request, and that we can place — mixed use, retail, industrial, office and self storage all sit inside it.
Undisclosed personal use. The fourteen-day rule is not negotiable and it is the fastest way to lose a deal late.
A working capital request wearing a real estate costume. Borrowing against a property to fund an unrelated operating business is a different transaction with different rules. Be straight about what the money is for.
A vague statement of purpose. "Investment" is not a purpose. What the money buys, improves or refinances is.
A primary residence. We cannot lend on a home you will live in, in any structure or entity. This is federal law rather than lender preference, and no amount of paperwork changes it.
These loans are held in an entity, and title vesting in an LLC is standard rather than exceptional. A personal guarantee is usually still required, so the entity protects your other assets rather than removing your obligation.
Not the way an SBA lender would. Qualification runs on the property — its value, its rent, the renovation budget, your reserves and your exit. Your operating business is largely beside the point unless it is the occupant of the building.
A cash-out refinance on an investment property is placeable, but what you do with the proceeds affects how the loan is classified. Tell us the intended use at the start so it is structured correctly.
No. That is owner-occupied, and the rental income from the other side does not change it. More than two housing units is a different analysis, which is one reason the fourteen-day rule carves them out.
Days rather than the forty-five to sixty a bank takes — and the reason is precisely the exemption described above. Most of the delay in a conventional mortgage is consumer compliance that does not apply here.
Answer these and we will tell you whether it is fundable, on what terms, and how fast it could close. Investment property only — we do not lend on a home you will live in.
We will run the numbers and come back to you. If it is time-sensitive, call 903-636-7511.
Dominion Hard Money arranges private and asset-based real estate financing for business purposes only. Not a commitment to lend. All loans subject to underwriting, property review, and approval. Terms vary by property, borrower experience, and exit strategy.
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