Fix-and-flip loan with a sale exit
Financing a flip I plan to sell, not rent
There's no rent to offset carrying costs while this sits on the market, so the loan term and the reserve for holding costs matter as much as the rehab budget itself.
- Fix-and-flip / bridge rehab loan The loan term, draw schedule, and pricing are built around a short hold that ends in a sale, not a 30-year rate.
- DSCR rental loan A DSCR loan is priced and structured for a long-term hold; carrying its rate and terms into a project measured in months works against a sale exit rather than for it.
Lenders in the directory
No lender here publishes a rule for this
This is an underwriting judgment, not a published threshold. None of the 37 lenders in the directory states a policy on it, so there is no honest way to build a shortlist — and a list computed only from which products a lender writes would tell you nothing you could act on.
What matters here is how the file is presented rather than which lender receives it. The sections below cover that. When you are ready to approach lenders, the directory shows what each one does publish, with the date it was verified.
What the lender is actually pricing
The loan term is sized against how long the rehab plus a realistic listing period should take, not just the construction schedule. Whether interest is paid monthly or reserved and rolled into the loan changes the cash needed during the hold, and an extension, if the property doesn't sell in time, usually carries its own fee.
The 70% rule and where the loan fits under it
The 70% rule is a rough screen many flippers use before financing enters the picture at all: purchase plus rehab kept under roughly 70% of after-repair value leaves margin if the sale takes longer or comes in lower than planned. A loan sized against the same after-repair value protects that margin further, but it doesn't create it — the margin has to already be in the numbers on the way in.
Carrying costs while it's listed
Property taxes, insurance, utilities, and the loan payment itself all continue during the listing period with no rent to offset them. Build that carrying-cost line item for the expected days-on-market into the budget, not just for the rehab timeline — a project that finishes on schedule but sits unsold for two extra months still costs money every one of those days.
If it doesn't sell in time
An extension on the same loan is the usual first option, at whatever fee the lender charges for it. Converting the exit to a rental hold instead of a sale is a real backup, but it's a different underwriting path with its own seasoning and appraisal requirements — see fix-and-flip loan with a DSCR refinance exit for what that involves.
What to have ready
- Comparable sold listings, not just active listings, for the target sale price
- A carrying-cost budget covering a realistic listing period, not just the rehab timeline
- A contractor schedule with float built in for delays
- A fallback plan if the property doesn't sell inside the loan term
Questions
Does a sale exit close faster than a DSCR exit?
Is there a prepayment penalty if I sell early?
What happens to the rehab budget if the sale price comes in lower than expected?
Can I switch from a sale exit to a rental exit mid-project?
Terms used on this page
- After Repair Value (ARV) — After repair value is the estimated market value of a property once planned renovations are finished. It is the basis for most fix-and-flip and BRRRR lending decisions.
- The 70% Rule — The 70% rule says a flipper should pay no more than 70% of a property’s after repair value, minus the cost of repairs. On a $400,000 ARV with $60,000 of rehab, the maximum offer is $220,000.
- Hard Money Loan — A hard money loan is short-term real estate financing secured by the property and underwritten mainly on its value, typically from a private lender rather than a bank.