What Is Transactional Funding? The (Ultimate) Guide

Have you ever wanted to get started in Real Estate but felt like you didn’t have the funds to get your foot in the door?

Have you ever wished there was a way to use other people's money to get your first deal?

In this guide, we will go in-depth on what exactly Transactional Funding is, how it works, how to find these lenders, and how you can benefit from it as a real estate investor & wholesaler.

Here's what we'll cover in The Ultimate Guide For Transactional Funding:

• What Is Transactional Funding?
• What Is Transactional Funding In Real Estate?
• How Does Transactional Funding Work?
• History Of Transactional Funding
• Who Uses Transactional Funding For Real Estate?
• Who Uses Transactional Funding As A Real Estate Investor?
• How Does Transactional Funding Work For Wholesalers? (Step-by-Step)
• How Much Does Transactional Funding Cost?
• How Long Is Transactional Funding?
• How Do I Qualify For Transactional Funding?
• How Do I Find The Best Transactional Funding Lenders For Real Estate Investing?
• Can I Use Transactional Funding On A House?
• Can I Use Transactional Funding For An Earnest Money Deposit [EMD] For A Property?
• Can I Use Transactional Funding For Commercial Real Estate?
• Alternatives To Transactional Funding
• Final Thoughts On Transactional Funding

                                    

What Is Transactional Funding?

Transactional funding, also known as ABC, same-day, or flash funding, is a short-term financing strategy commonly used by investors to facilitate investment deals. This form of short-term loan funding allows them to close lucrative investment deals without risking their funds.

The investor secures a short-term loan, typically offered in the form of hard money from a private money lender, invests, earns a profit, and pays the loan back. The goal is to sell the property, or whatever asset they purchased, and repay the money as quickly as possible, usually within 1-14 days. Consequently, most lenders won’t require a credit report in transactional funding programs, but an end buyer for the acquired asset is a prerequisite.

                                    

What Is Transactional Funding In Real Estate?

Transactional funding refers to short-term capital investors borrow to complete real estate deals. Essentially, this funding is very common in real estate deals that involve wholesalers because it is used to fund transactions where the purpose is to immediately resell a property to an end buyer. This particular process is also known as a simultaneous closing.

Other names for Transactional funding are "short-term funding," "flash funding," "same-day funding," or "ABC Funding."

This form of funding is popular with real estate investors and wholesalers who want to buy property without using their own funds. Transactional lenders will typically lend to investors as long as there’s an end buyer willing to buy the real estate property from the original investor in a short period of time, usually 1 to 14 days.

When these types of transactions are done properly, it can allow a real estate wholesaler to earn a significant amount of profit without ever having to put their own money into a deal.

The purpose of transactional funding is to be extremely short-term with some loan lengths even being minutes, or hours!

 

                                    

How Does Transactional Funding Work?

In transactional funding programs, the lenders offer investors 100% of the required amount for potential investment as long as there’s an end buyer. And since no credit reports are required, the approval timeline for a transactional loan is usually pretty short, typically between 24 hours to two days.

The loan repayment timeline is also short, with most transactional lenders offering a maximum of 14 days. Transactional funding transactions often include four key players; the original owner(A), the investor(B), the end buyer(C), and a private money lender. This is because a double or simultaneous closing must occur for the deal to be complete. Here’s a simplified breakdown of how transactional funding works :

B finds an asset they are interested in, for instance, a wholesale property. They approach the original owner, in this case, A, with an offer. A accepts and signs a contract agreeing to sell their property to B.

B returns to the market and finds an interested buyer- C, who signs a contract whereby C accepts to purchase the property. To facilitate the deal, B approaches and obtains a hard money loan from the private lender and then funds the purchase contract with A, creating the first closing A-B.

B then sells and signs the sale contract with C creating the second closing B-C. B repays the private money lender and keeps the difference between the double closings as their profit without ever touching their funds.

                                    

History Of Transactional Funding

Until recently, real estate investors would often pass the financing from the end buyer to purchase the original property through back-to-back closings.

Meaning, investors would find a solid deal they wanted to buy, put it under contract, and open escrow for an "A to B" transaction. Then, they'd sign a second contract with the new buyer for a higher price and open a second escrow for a "B to C" transaction. Then, the investor would use Party C's funds to fund the first A-B transaction. Then, the investor would immediately sell the property to the C buyer in the second B-C transaction.

This savvy process allowed the investor wholesaling the deal (Party B) to not have to bring any funds to close the deal and earn a nice profit while doing so.

However, much changed when the real estate bubble burst. Lenders and title companies now have more stringent lending policies, and in many jurisdictions you cannot use the end buyer's funds (Party C) to fund the entire transaction.

Many title companies now require that the first closing be a standalone transaction where Party B has to fund the A-B purchase before the property can be resold to the end buyer (Party C). As a result, transactional funding is a well-needed type of financing for real estate investors and wholesalers in order to legally complete these types of deals.

Let's get into who uses transactional funding, and how it can help benefit your business!

                                    

Who Uses Transactional Funding For Real Estate?

This funding is ideal for any real estate investor that needs temporary funds to close a deal. As mentioned, it's also ideal for real estate wholesalers with signed contracts that have to close on a deal before wholesaling it.

If you're a real estate investor that deals with motivated seller leads, short sales, probates, REOs (bank owned properties), and other distressed properties, then this funding is great to have in your tool belt.

Particularly when dealing with short sales and REOs there can be stipulations that require you to officially close and buy a property before wholesaling it to another person or company. This is where transactional funding can play a key part in your real estate business.

                                    

Why Use Transactional Funding As A Real Estate Investor?

There are a multitude of reasons on why you want to use transactional funding as a real estate investor. Below we'll go over benefits an disadvantages of using transactional funding for real estate investing. 

5 Benefits of Using Transactional Funding:

1. Funding is typically 100% of the purchase price

This is a huge benefit because when you deal with hard money lenders, banks, and even private money lenders - they usually won't always fund 100% of the deal. Keep in mind that most transactional lenders will only fund a deal if, and only if, you have the end buyer ready to purchase the property.

2. Funding is dependent upon the strength of the deal

This means you typically do not have to provide proof of income, fill out all of the paperwork you would need with a traditional lender, or have your credit checked. This is beneficial if you have bad or poor credit, and little to no income.

3. Allows you to double close on a property without having to use your own funds

Double closing is the back-to-back property purchase and sale involving the original seller, the original investor (wholesaler), and the end buyer. By using a third-party transactional funding lender, you'll be able to use their funds instead of your own to close the deal.

This is called leveraging "Other People's Money" (OPM). Using OPM is an important skill to have as a real estate investor. This way you can use their money to fund and close on deals, and use your own money to keep your business running.

4. Ideal for quick closes

Transactional funding companies are in the business of lending capital and acting quickly. A lot of times, investors will need the funding in 24 hours to within a couple of weeks time. Transactional funding lenders are used to these short time frames and are able to act with speed.

5. Allows you to wholesale a deal if a contract is non-assignable

If you're looking to wholesale a real estate deal, but the contract is non-assignable, then in most cases you'll be able to close on the deal with transactional funding and immediately re-sell it. Utilizing transactional funding provides another exit strategy for wholesalers to receive profits from their deals.

6 Disadvantages Of Using Transactional Funding:

Transactional funding is an excellent financing strategy for investors looking to earn profits with minimal risks and beginners with capital limitations. But while it has excellent perks, it also comes with disadvantages such as:

1. An End Buyer is a Prerequisite

Although some lenders might be willing to give you the money, most transactional funders require investors seeking financing to have an end buyer lined up. Some might even require investors to prove that there is indeed an end buyer through a signed purchase contract. Some may even require signed contracts from the seller and the end buyer or pictures of the property. This is, however, to be expected as most transactional funders won’t request a credit report check, and confirming that there is a buyer is the only way for them to ensure the deal won’t fall through.

2. Short Repayment Period

Because there are no credit checks, transactional funding loans are often approved within a short period, sometimes even within 24 hours. However, just like the approval period, the loan repayment timeline is also abridged, with some funders even expecting investors to repay in 2-3 days, but the average repayment period is typically 14 days. In that light, investors, whether in wholesale real estate or house flipping, must have their ducks in a row for this strategy to work out in their favor.

3. Delays are Pricey

As noted, the goal of transactional funding is to close the deal and repay the loan as soon as possible. If the deal doesn’t close within the agreed timeframe, the loan rolls into an extended term with an interest rate; hence the total repayment cost adds up. And unfortunately, delays might be unavoidable due to factors outside an investor’s control, such as a buyer’s inability to access financing, delayed title approval by title companies, or slow contract underwriting by the involved parties.

4. Not Everyone is Open to the Arrangement

Although transactional funding programs are a legally recognized financing strategy, some title companies might not be willing to work with this form of funding due to the simultaneous closings involved. Some buyers or their closing agents might also not be familiar with the process, which either slows it down or prevents closing altogether as they might decide to walk away.

5. There are More Costs to It

On the surface, transactional funding processes seem like this- quickly get the capital you need, close the deal, earn the difference between contract AB and BC as your profit, repay the loan, and exit. However, there are more costs to it. To begin with, most private money lenders charge some upfront fees, typically between 0.5% and 2% of the total amount for loan processing.

They also charge a percentage of the loan as their profit, usually between 1% and 12%, depending on the agreed terms and length. On top of that, you as the investor will have to cater for the closing costs for the double-closing deals, not forgetting a property’s renovation costs should they be required. And if an investor delays, the extended loan term comes with extra interest costs, and some lenders might charge a penalty for lateness.

6. Inexperience

Transactional funding creates a leveled investment playground where seasoned and beginner investors can enjoy money-making from real estate without risking personal funds. However, the strategy can quickly turn sour for an inexperienced investor who takes longer to repay due to the extended loan term interests and penalties. And if one isn’t careful, all the involved closing costs can eat up a significant chunk of the profit margin.

                                    

How Does Transactional Funding Work For Wholesalers? (Step-by-Step)

The process is fairly simple for using transactional funding. The steps below highlight the basic outline on how the process works.

Step 1: A Wholesaler will identify an ideal property of interest.

Step 2: The Wholesaler will request a Proof of Funds Letter from their transactional lender.

Step 3: The Wholesaler will now execute both their buy contract with the property owner and the sell contract with their potential cash buyer.

Step 4: The Wholesaler will notify the transactional lender and request for the transactional funds.

Step 5: The Wholesaler uses the transactional funding to purchase the property, then the end buyer buys the property. The transactional loan is then immediately paid in full with interest, and the wholesaler collects the profit.

Here's a quick video going through the process: 

Transactional Funding And Double Closing Example:

This process is also called an "ABC transaction." This is because the original investor ("B") gets the property under contract with the seller ("A"), and quickly sells the property to the end buyer ("C").

Here's an example of how transactional lending works for a double closing:

• A real estate investor / wholesaler ("B") is purchasing a property for $100,000 from the motivated seller ("A"). The investor wants to sell the same property for $125,000 and they already have an end buyer lined up ("C").
• The wholesaler submits the executed contracts between Parties A & B, and Party's B & C to their title company.
• The transactional lender is informed about the deal as well as the closing date.
• The end buyer ("C") wires in a deposit of say, $5,000 which is non-refundable. This shows the transactional lender that there is a serious buyer lined up.
• The end buyer wires in $125,000 for the B to C property transaction on the closing day.
• The transactional lender wires in $100,000 for the wholesaler to purchase the property.
• The closing on A to B side is done followed by the closing on B to C side.
• The transactional lender receives the loan pay off of $100,000 loaned to the wholesaler plus a 2% fee of the loaned amount, which in this case is $2,000.
• The wholesaler makes a profit of $23,000 from which the closing costs are deducted.

 

                                    

How Much Does Transactional Funding Cost?

The cost for using transactional funding will vary depending on how much money is required, the length of time the money will be borrowed for, and the amount of risk in the deal.

Most transactional lender fees will charge an origination fee of two or three points (2-3% of the total loan amount), plus 10% to 15% percent interest annualized of the total amount borrowed. However, the annualized interest is usually only significant if the capital is borrowed for a long period of time.

For example, if you borrow $100,000 from a transactional money lender for less than a day, then you may only have to pay the origination of 2%, which in this case would be $2,000.

However, if you borrow the funds for, let's say 60 days, then you will have to pay annualized interest on that borrowed money. To give you exact numbers, if you borrowed $100,000 at a 10% annualized interest rate for 60 days, then you would have to pay $166.67 of annualized interest in addition to the 2% origination fee.

This is a small price in order to complete and profit from these deals!

                                    

How Long Is Transactional Funding?

The purpose of transactional funding is to be extremely short-term. It's the transactional lender's intention to lend out their capital for as little time as possible to reduce their lending risk exposure.

Ideally, a transactional lender wants to only have their capital be lent out for minutes, or hours. However, some transactional funding companies have loan terms that allow you to borrow capital for 1-120 days.

Can I Get Extended Transactional Funding?

Yes, some transactional lenders allow you to get extended funding in cases when you cannot close by the agreed-upon time frame. This time extension may be up to 30 or 90 days but is dependent on the terms of the actual transactional funding company you are using.

Keep in mind that the longer you take to close on the resale of the property, the higher the interest rate and fees you will pay.

                                    

How Do I Qualify for Transactional Funding?

In most cases, all that you need to qualify for this funding is to have organized documents, such as executed contracts. Basically, this funding requires a property seller (A), you (B), and a ready, qualified end Buyer (C).

Easy qualification for this funding makes it appealing to most investors. The process can typically be completed within one to a few days because borrowers are not required to submit the amount of documents they'd have to for a traditional loan. Transactional funding can usually be acquired without the paperwork of: appraisals, credit verification, proof of income, and job verifications.

As you can see, this is part of what makes transactional funding differ greatly from a traditional type of financing, like a 30 year mortgage from a bank.

Quick Reminder: Transactional funding approval is based on the property and strength of the deal rather than credit!

                                    

How Do I Find The Best Transactional Funding Lenders For Real Estate Investing?

Here are three ways to find the best Transactional Funding Lenders in your area:

1. Attend Your Local REIA Meetings

REIA (Real Estate Investors Association Meetings) are local events where those in the real estate investing industry go to network and get more business. If you attend these meetings, you'll be able to meet different types of lenders and financiers who want to lend out capital on real estate deals.

2. Use Google Search

To find transactional funding lenders on google, go to the search and type in " 'Your City Name' + 'Transactional Funding' "

Now you'll be able to go through the search page results to contact and find transactional funding lenders near you. It's hard to beat good ol' google! 

3. Get Referrals From Your Network

Ask your network if they know of any transactional funding lenders. If your network does not, then the next step is to ask your network if they know of any traditional, private, or hard money lenders. Once you get in contact with the traditional, private, or hard money lender, you can then ask if they perform transactional funding or know of anyone else who does.

Following these steps and asking the right people in your network, should lead you to find transactional funding lenders!

                                    

Can I Use Transactional Funding On A House?

Yes, of course! You can use transactional funding on a house, which is why it's used by wholesalers and home flippers. The fact that qualifying for this funding is easy and fast makes it ideal for the purchase and sale of a house.

You can use transactional funding for all types of property, such as:

• Single-family houses
• Multifamily properties
• Condos
• Lots and land
• Bank-owned homes (REOs)
• Fire damaged properties
• Hurricane damaged homes
• MLS listings
• Wholesale deals

                                    

Can I Use Transactional Funding For An Earnest Money Deposit [EMD] For A Property?

Earnest money refers to the deposit that is made to the seller as a representation of the good faith of a buyer to purchase a home. This money allows the buyer more time to secure financing and perform a search for the title, get an appraisal, and inspect the property before closing.

An earnest money deposit is usually delivered after signing a purchase agreement or sales contract. An escrow account holds this deposit until the property is fully closed on.

Sometimes a homeowner or investor may not have cash or capital access to fund an earnest money deposit. In this case, they can use transactional lending to get the required earnest money deposit for the property they want to invest in and buy. 

                                    

Can I Use Transactional Funding For Commercial Real Estate?

Yes, transactional funding can be used in the sale of commercial real estate, businesses, and even specialty assets like collectibles or fine art.

The type and source of a property that you buy usually isn't the issue. The most important thing while using transactional funding is for the transactions to be back-to-back, completed as soon as possible, and be free of seasoning requirements from the seller of the original property. 

Keep in mind that transactional funding should not be looked at as a "long-term" type of financing. 

Let's get into the alternatives to transactional funding in case you need funding for a longer time period!

                                    

Alternatives To Transactional Funding

Transactional financing may not be ideal for you if you can’t time the closing properly or you don’t have the liberty to choose a closing agent. As previously mentioned, some lenders can provide extended transactional funding of usually for 30-60 days though most lenders expect borrowers to close on the resale of the property in a much shorter time frame.

There is a time and place for each type of real estate investment financing. If transactional funding isn’t ideal for your particular transaction, then you can consider other types of real estate financing for an investment property, such as:

• Hard Money Loans
• Private Money Loans
• JV Partners
• Bank Loans

These sources of funding do not require an end buyer to be lined up before providing their financing. However, hard money lenders & banks usually have higher fees and have more stringent demands for underwriting. Each hard money lender is different, but they may need proof of income and put you through a credit check, proof of certain assets, and experience. They will also do their due diligence on insurance, valuations, and title.

On the other hand, a private money lender and JV partner can be more flexible and provide negotiable terms. Their requirements will depend on what is possible to work out.

                                    

Final Thoughts On Transactional Funding

In order to become a successful real estate investor and wholesaler, it's wise to continue developing relationships with all types of lenders. You never know when you will need a particular type of financing, like transactional funding.

From finding and developing relationships with transactional lenders, you'll always have an exit strategy when funds are needed in a short time frame. When non-assignable contracts come across your plate for properties that you want to wholesale, you'll now be able to quickly complete the deal through a double close with transactional funding.

As with anything in real estate investing, there's always the risk that comes with it. However, as an investor, we take calculated risks in order to receive profits from the deals we complete.

When a deal is profitable enough to offset the risk & cost with transactional funding, then it's a wise & calculated decision to use this transactional funding to grow your real estate investment business!

Hope you enjoyed the Ultimate Guide For Transactional Funding!

Cheers & Happy Investing!