Looking for Insight on Hard Money Lending – Central Florida & Michigan

[Ed Furst]

Hi all,

My business partner and I are exploring financing strategies for two distinct investment approaches and would greatly value input from this community:

• Central Florida (Orlando metro – Clermont, Winter Garden, Leesburg, Maitland): We’re focused on flips/rehabs and are evaluating how other investors have leveraged hard money or creative financing in this market.

• Pontiac, Michigan: We’re exploring a “Build to Sell” strategy—purchasing land and working with a construction partner to build single-family homes for resale.

Specifically, we’re hoping to hear about your experiences with:

• Typical LTV ratios lenders are offering in these markets

• Whether your lender was willing to roll holding/closing costs into the initial loan

• How many points lenders required on the backend

• Any unique structures you’ve used (creative financing, joint ventures, etc.) that worked well

We’d love to connect with investors who have navigated these financing routes—what worked, what didn’t, and which lenders or approaches you found most effective.

Looking forward to learning from your experiences, and happy to share details on our approach if it helps the discussion.

Thanks in advance!

[Drew Sygit]

Quote from @Ed Furst:

@Drew Sygit Hey Drew, my partner is originally from the Detroit area and was previously aware of Sanborn Construction, a construction company building tons of properties in the Pontiac area

 I don't think they are building new construction in Pontiac, but are renovating properties investors purchase.

In our opinion, Pontiac would be VERY challenging to build new and sell for a profit.