Private Money Loan Calculator

Private money or hard money?

The two labels overlap almost completely. In a March 15, 2022 editorial, “The Demise of ‘Hard Money’ in a Private Lending World,” the American Association of Private Lenders explains that “hard money” originally meant lending on the collateral alone, while today's lenders underwrite the borrower as well as the property. The association itself was briefly called the National Hard Money Association in 2009 before taking its current name, and it notes that borrowers still search for “hard money” to find private lenders.

For sizing and pricing, both names describe the same loan: short-term, secured by real estate, made for a business purpose, and sized mostly on the property. This calculator runs the same math as the hard money loan calculator. The difference is the view: it opens on what the loan earns and on what happens when the borrower asks for more than the program allows.

What the lender collects

Four lines on the results panel make up the lender's side of the loan. Points and interest are figured on the proposed loan, not the request:

• Points. A percentage of the gross loan, holdback included, paid at closing. One point is 1% of the loan amount, the same convention the CFPB uses when it defines points for consumer mortgages.
• Lender fee. A flat dollar amount, also paid at closing.
• Scheduled interest. On full-balance terms, the loan × rate × term ÷ 12. On funded-balance terms, interest on each dollar from the day it's disbursed, which needs a draw schedule.
• Minimum interest. If the program has it, the minimum months × the monthly interest. It's shown on its own line and never added to the interest estimate, because it only comes into play if the loan pays off early.

Gross lender revenue adds the first three. An interest reserve isn't counted on top: it's interest the borrower prepays out of loan proceeds, and that interest is already part of the scheduled figure.

For pricing context, two dated snapshots a few months apart: the NPLA's June 2026 Private Lending Market Report (published July 9, 2026, with SFR Analytics and Private Lender Law) put the median fix-and-flip and bridge rate at 9.99% with median points of 0.98, while SFR Analytics' March 2026 figures (newsletter of April 3, 2026) were a 10.5% median rate and 2.0 points. SFR Analytics' data is submitted by lenders and the sample varies (median points moved from 2.0 to 0.98 between those months), so treat both as snapshots, not benchmarks. The typical loan terms guide has more dated figures.

When the request is over the limit

Borrowers and brokers arrive with a number. Enter it as the requested loan and the calculator checks it against the maximum:

• A request at or below the maximum is used as entered, and everything after it is priced on that amount.
• A request above the maximum is cut back to the maximum. The results show the excess and the limit that caused it, and points, interest and cash to close are priced on the reduced loan.

The binding constraint tells you what a counter-offer would have to change. If As-Is LTV binds, raising LTC or LTARV does nothing. Only a higher as-is value, a higher as-is limit or a smaller loan closes the gap.

The lender-side formulas

Worked example: a request over the limit

The calculator opens on a $425,000 purchase with an as-is value of $450,000, a $60,000 rehab and an ARV of $600,000. The borrower asks for $360,000. The example program allows 75% As-Is LTV, 85% LTC and 70% LTARV, funds 100% of the rehab, and prices at 10.5% with 1.5 points, a $995 fee, a 12-month term and 3 months of minimum interest, all on the full loan balance.

As-Is LTV sets the maximum at $337,500, so the request is $22,500 over and the proposed loan drops to $337,500. At the requested amount the loan would be 80% of the as-is value. To fit it under the 75% limit, the as-is value would need to be at least $480,000; the LTC and LTARV caps already have room for it.

Revenue of $41,495.00 is about 12.29% of the loan amount over 12 months, before any costs. That ratio isn't an APR or a yield on money actually lent: only the $277,500 acquisition advance goes out at closing, while full-balance terms charge interest on the $60,000 holdback from day one. The $8,859.38 minimum is 3 months of interest on the proposed loan, computed at full precision, which is why it isn't exactly 3 × $2,953.13. It protects the lender against an early payoff; on a loan that runs its term it adds nothing.

On the borrower's side, the $60,000 rehab is held back, the advance covers $277,500 of the price, and estimated cash at closing is $153,557.50: the $147,500 purchase gap plus points and the fee.

What the extra $22,500 would earn

Suppose the lender considered an exception at 80% As-Is LTV, exactly enough for the request. The calculator prices both versions:

The exception adds $2,700.00 of gross revenue over the term. In exchange, the borrower's purchase equity falls by $22,500 and the loan sits at 80% of today's value instead of 75%. Whether that trade is worth making is an underwriting call; the calculator just lays both versions side by side.

Gross revenue isn't profit

The revenue line stops at what the borrower pays. What the lender keeps depends on costs the calculator never sees:

• Cost of funds. Interest on a credit line, the return promised to fund investors or note buyers, or the yield given up on cash.
• Servicing. Collecting payments, running draws and inspections, and preparing payoff statements, whether in-house or through a servicer.
• Defaults and losses. Legal fees, time in foreclosure, carrying costs and any shortfall on resale.
• Taxes and overhead. Income taxes, insurance, staff, software and any document costs not passed through to the borrower.

How much hard money lenders make works through those deductions and shows how full-balance versus funded-balance interest changes revenue on the same loan.

Other tools for this deal

• Hard money points calculator: compare two quotes, more points against a lower rate, by the month the loan pays off.
• Minimum interest, exit fees and prepayment: how a minimum interest clause differs from the other payoff charges.
• Hard money term sheet: what a preliminary quote should state, with a full sample.
• Loan sizing calculator: the limits alone, with three programs that each bind on a different cap.