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NexWin Capital Corp.
Loan category · Hard money

Hard money lenders in California, and how a broker places your file.

Hard money lenders in California are private and specialty lenders who write short-term, typically business-purpose real estate loans underwritten on the property and the exit rather than on the borrower's income. Hard money is a description of how the loan is priced and underwritten, not a product name: the same capital is written as a fix and flip loan, a bridge loan or a construction loan depending on what it is doing, and many borrowers reach these lenders through a broker rather than directly.

NexWin Capital Corp. is a licensed California broker, not a lender. It takes the scenario, places the file with the private lender whose terms fit the asset and the exit, and stays on the file through closing — so the rate and the terms come from the lender, on a term sheet written against your specific deal.

Find your fitTalk to the team

Hard money is a way of underwriting, not a product.

A bank reads the borrower: tax returns, employment, debt ratios. A hard money lender reads the collateral and the plan — what the property is worth, what it will be worth when the work is done or the position clears, and what specifically repays the loan. The equity does the talking, which is why the term is short, the price is higher than a thirty-year mortgage, and the file can move in weeks rather than months.

That is also why the phrase seldom appears on a term sheet. Lenders write the same capital under the name of the job it is doing: a fix and flip loan, a bridge loan, a construction loan. Search for hard money lenders in California and you are searching for the people who write those three loans on investment property here — and, often, for a broker who can put a specific deal in front of the right one.

Two related pages carry the detail this one points at: the residential transition loans page explains the purchase-and-rehab and bridge category, and the hard money loan calculator prices a bridge or a purchase-and-rehab scenario against a rate you have actually been quoted.

What the money is called when it is doing something.

Three programs, each read from its own page. The bounds are the published ranges; every deal is underwritten on its own facts.

Fix and flip

Buying a property to renovate and resell.

Loan size
$100K – $3M
Term
6 – 18 mo
Max loan to ARV
Up to 75%
Rehab funded
Up to 100%

Full fix and flip terms

Bridge

Holding a position between an acquisition and a permanent loan or a sale.

Loan size
$250K – $20M
Term
6 – 24 mo
Max loan to value
Up to 75%

Full bridge terms

Ground-up construction

Building, with money released in draws as stages complete.

Loan size
$250K – $10M+
Term
12 – 24 mo
Max loan to cost
Up to 85%
Max loan to finished value
Up to 70% ARV

Full ground-up construction terms

Rate is set on a term sheet against the specific deal. NexWin Capital Corp. arranges financing through third-party lenders and does not set price, so no rate appears on this page. Why the market prices these loans instead of a statutory cap is a statute question — how California usury law treats broker-arranged loans quotes the official texts.

What California hard money lenders look at.

The asset and the exit first, then the sponsor. This is the file a broker builds before a lender sees it.

  1. 01

    The collateral, now and finished

    An as-is value supported by an appraisal or a broker opinion, and on a rehab an after-repair value tied to a specific scope of work and comparable sales. Leverage is set against those numbers, not against income — which is why the price of the money tracks how much of the value the loan covers.

  2. 02

    The exit, and its timeline

    A sale or a refinance that is real rather than aspirational, with a date. Because the loan is short and interest-only, the exit is not a formality: it is the repayment, and a lender prices the risk that it arrives late.

  3. 03

    The sponsor

    The track record of the person running the deal, read alongside the asset. It shapes leverage and price rather than deciding yes or no on its own, and a lender will want it documented rather than described.

  4. 04

    The entity and the purpose

    These loans are written to entities for business purpose on investment property. Entity documents, insurance and identification arrive with the file, not after the appraisal — the ones that arrive late are the ones that move a close.

Southern California, county by county.

Hard money lenders in Southern California work county by county, because the permit counter and the recorder change the timeline a file is underwritten against. The published city pages sit in Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties; each carries those local facts and links the program the money runs under there.

Los Angeles County

Orange County

San Diego County

Multifamily and mixed-use

Hard money in California is not limited to houses. The bridge program’s published representative deal reads “8-unit multifamily, Long Beach, value-add with stabilization runway”. Whether a specific commercial or multifamily asset fits is decided by lender appetite on the file rather than by a rule on a page: commercial hard money lenders in California work asset by asset, which is exactly what a broker is for.

How a broker changes the search.

Four steps, one file. The scenario is read by a person before anything is quoted.

  1. 01

    The scenario, once

    Property, purchase or payoff, the plan and the exit, in plain terms. The Capital Fit Check on this site takes it in a few minutes; so does a call.

  2. 02

    Placement

    The file goes to the lender whose terms fit the asset and the exit — sourced from lenders who understand real estate transitions rather than box-checkers, with the exit structured into the deal so the loan actually does its job.

  3. 03

    The term sheet

    Rate, leverage, term and conditions come back from the lender, written against your deal. That sheet, not this page, is what sets real numbers.

  4. 04

    Through closing

    The broker stays on the file to funding. All three programs publish a typical close of ~14 business days from a qualified, complete file; what moves it is title, appraisal turnaround and how quickly the file completes.

Start the fit checkTalk to the team

The search has another side. Private lenders who want files packaged this way, and professionals who refer clients into them, start on the partners page.

California hard money, in questions.

What is a hard money lender?

A private or specialty lender that writes short-term real estate loans secured by the property itself, underwritten on the asset and the exit rather than on tax returns and employment history. The money is priced higher than a bank's because the term is short and the lender is carrying transition risk; in exchange the file moves on the property's numbers and closes faster. Hard money is a description of the underwriting, not a product — the same capital is written as a fix and flip loan, a bridge loan or a construction loan depending on what it is doing.

Is NexWin Capital Corp. a hard money lender?

No. NexWin Capital Corp. is a licensed California broker. It arranges hard money and private capital for California real estate by placing each file with the third-party lender whose terms fit the asset and the exit, and it stays on the file through closing. Because it arranges rather than lends, it does not set the rate or the terms — those come from the lender on a term sheet written against your specific deal.

How do I find hard money lenders in California?

Directly, or through a broker. Private lenders differ in the asset types they will fund, the leverage they will go to, the hold periods they will write and the counties they will lend in, and those edges are not always published where a borrower can read them. A broker who places files with those lenders takes the scenario once, matches it to the lenders whose terms actually fit, and brings back a term sheet — that is the service NexWin Capital Corp. provides. The Capital Fit Check on this site is the fastest way to start.

What do California hard money lenders look at?

The asset and the exit, then the sponsor. What the property is worth now; on a rehab, what it will be worth finished against a specific scope of work and comparable sales; how much of the project the loan covers against value, cost or after-repair value; what specifically repays it, and on what timeline; and the track record of the person running the deal. Personal income documentation matters far less than it does on a consumer mortgage. The loans are written to entities for business purpose, not for a home the borrower intends to live in.

What terms do hard money loans in California run?

It depends on which program the money runs under. The fix and flip program is published at $100K – $3M over 6 – 18 mo, at up to 75% of after-repair value with rehab funded up to 100%. The bridge program is published at $250K – $20M over 6 – 24 mo at up to 75% of value. The ground-up construction program is published at $250K – $10M+ over 12 – 24 mo at up to 85% of cost. Rate is set on a term sheet against the specific deal — NexWin Capital Corp. arranges financing through third-party lenders and does not set price, so no rate is published here.

How fast can a hard money loan close in California?

Faster than a bank loan, because the file is carried by the property and the exit rather than by income documentation. All three programs publish a typical close of ~14 business days from a qualified, complete file. What moves that number is rarely the lender: it is title, appraisal turnaround, payoff demands, and how quickly the borrower returns the items on the list.

Do hard money lenders in California lend on a primary residence?

The programs on this site are business-purpose loans on investment property, written to entities. A hard money loan for a primary residence — a home the borrower intends to live in — is generally a consumer-purpose loan and is not what these programs are for. An inquiry like that gets a straight answer rather than a term sheet. Fix and flip, bridge, ground-up construction and DSCR rental loans all sit inside the business-purpose category.

Is hard money the same as a bridge loan or a fix and flip loan?

Hard money describes how the money is priced and underwritten; bridge and fix and flip describe what it is doing. A bridge loan holds a position between an acquisition and a permanent loan or a sale; a fix and flip loan funds a purchase and a renovation against the after-repair value; a construction loan releases money in draws as stages complete. All three are commonly hard money, and fix and flip hard money lenders and bridge lenders in California are often the same private lenders wearing the name of the job. The residential transition loans page on this site explains the first two as a category, and the hard money loan calculator prices a bridge or a purchase-and-rehab scenario against a rate you have actually been quoted.

Is this page an offer of credit?

No. The figures above are the published ranges of three programs, not an offer, quote, pre-approval or commitment to lend, and every deal is underwritten on its own facts. NexWin Capital Corp. arranges financing through third-party lenders and does not set rate or terms. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.

Official sources

Check our claims against the primary source.

Hard money financing here is business-purpose credit. The rules that govern it, and the government-backed programs worth comparing before you commit, are published. These links go to the official pages, not summaries of them.

Our notes are plain-language explanations, not legal or tax advice. For your situation, talk to your own counsel or tax professional.