What’s the Fastest You’ve Ever Closed on a Deal?

[Brandon Lee]

Speed can make or break a deal in real estate. Some investors wait weeks or even months, while others close in a matter of days.

Curious—what’s the fastest timeline you’ve ever experienced, and what made it possible?

[Jeff S.]

The next day.

It’s a call we get now and again from existing borrowers, which typically starts in a panicked voice, “Jeff, do you have any money?” (I can tell from the tone where this one is going.)

“Yes, what’s going on?” (I already know)

“We just had a lender flake out on us.”

“When do you have to close?”

“Tomorrow.” (Naturally)

“Do you have the purchase contract, escrow instructions, and (most importantly) the preliminary title report?”

“Yes.”

“Great, please email them to me along with the property address. We’ll meet you there in two hours to do a walk-through and confirm your construction estimate.” (We once had a seller’s agent literally laugh in our faces on-site, claiming there is no way we’d be able to fund so quickly, and why are we wasting his time?)

Once back home, I pull comps and confirm the estimated ARV.

I used to have a loan doc template I would fill out, but now we use Lightning Docs. This takes two hours max and the resulting loan docs are sent to escrow.

Our borrower notifies escrow & title and updates the property insurance, noting us as the Mortgagee.

The next morning, our borrower signs everything at the escrow office. Escrow emails everything back to us. We review.

It’s been 24 hours. We wire money to the title.

Deal closes.

(In that one case, I get a contrite and very apologetic call from the agent who laughed at us.)

This process only works when you work with direct lenders (i.e., those who lend from their own balance sheet). Banks and brokers can’t generally work this fast.

Borrower is now a lifelong client.