Hard Money Lenders in Florida
Direct hard money lenders funding Florida investors with our own capital — from Orlando’s flip and vacation-rental scene to Miami’s condo market and the booming Southwest Florida coast. Close on your deal’s timeline.
- Up to 90% Purchase + 100% Rehab
- Capped at 75% ARV
- No Minimum Credit Score
- Direct Lender Since 2016
AAPL Member · Direct Lender Since 2016 · NMLS #1979189
Florida is one of the busiest real estate investment markets in the country, and deals here move fast — from Orlando’s flip and vacation-rental scene to Miami’s competitive condo market and the booming Southwest Florida coast. As direct hard money lenders in Florida, Tidal Loans funds investors with our own capital, which means we make our own decisions and close on the timeline your deal demands — no middleman, no slow bank committee. We’ve financed Florida investors since 2016, underwriting the property rather than your income, so a strong deal gets funded whether or not your tax returns would satisfy a bank.
A hard money loan is short-term, asset-based financing secured by the property itself. Instead of focusing on your credit score, we focus on the property’s after-repair value — the “hard” asset behind the loan. For Florida investors buying distressed properties to flip, building new, or repositioning rentals, that asset-based approach is what lets you close quickly and win deals in a competitive market.
Florida Hard Money Loans, Funded Fast
New or experienced, the appeal of a Florida hard money loan is the same: you don’t need a large amount of cash up front, and your approval doesn’t ride on your credit score or tax returns. As a direct lender, we fund up to 90% of the purchase price and 100% of the rehab budget, with the combined amount capped at 75% of the after-repair value. Qualified, experienced Florida investors can push higher on a case-by-case basis. On a strong deal, that structure means you bring far less to closing than a conventional bank would demand — which is why serious flippers, BRRRR investors, and value-add buyers work with us on Florida deals.
We’re also one of the more active private money lenders in Florida, funding borrowers a bank won’t touch — investors with multiple existing loans, or buying distressed properties conventional institutions avoid. Our full direct-lender model is detailed on our hard money loan hub.
Hard Money Lending Across Florida's Major Markets
Florida is really many markets in one state, and we lend in all of them. Here’s where our investors are most active.
Orlando
Orlando is one of our busiest Florida markets, driven by a powerful mix of flip opportunity and vacation-rental demand thanks to the region’s tourism economy. Our Orlando hard money loans fund the purchase and rehab so you can renovate and flip, or stabilize and refinance into a long-term hold. For long-term rental financing in this market, see our Orlando DSCR loan options. In a market where good deals attract fast competition, our funding speed is often what wins the property.
Miami & South Florida
Miami and the broader South Florida market — including Fort Lauderdale and Palm Beach — combine high values with intense investor competition. Our Miami hard money financing and South Florida lending serve flippers and buy-and-hold investors alike, including the condo and mixed-use deals this market is known for.
Tampa & the Gulf Coast
Tampa and Florida’s Gulf Coast, including Sarasota and the Cape Coral–Fort Myers corridor, have become some of the strongest investor markets in the state. Our Tampa hard money loans and Gulf Coast financing fund both flips and rentals across this fast-growing region.
Jacksonville
Jacksonville offers affordability and steady demand that make it a reliable market for flips and rentals. Our Jacksonville hard money financing closes fast enough to capture deals in a competitive market. Buy-and-hold investors here should also look at our Jacksonville DSCR loans.
Beyond these, we lend across Tallahassee, Gainesville, Ocala, Naples, and the surrounding submarkets statewide.
Construction Hard Money Loans in Florida
New construction is a strong part of our Florida lending. We provide ground-up construction loans to builders and developers — up to 90% loan-to-cost and up to 75% of the after-construction value, with the dual constraint applied to whichever is more conservative. We fund 100% of the hard construction cost through milestone-based draws, and we can assist with land acquisition too. Because we underwrite the project rather than your personal income, our ground-up construction financing closes faster and more flexibly than a bank construction loan, with draw schedules that release funds as the build hits milestones.
Commercial Hard Money Loans in Florida
Florida is also a strong commercial market for us, and it’s an area many lenders avoid. We provide private commercial hard money loans for investors buying, rehabbing, or repositioning commercial and mixed-use property — up to 65% LTV on commercial bridge and rehab loans, and 70% LTV (80% CLTV) on long-term commercial financing at a 30-year amortization. When a deal is time-sensitive or the borrower doesn’t fit conventional commercial guidelines, our commercial hard money is often the only financing that closes on schedule.
Investment Property Loan Programs We Offer in Florida
Most Florida investors use us for more than one product as their strategy grows. Here’s the full lineup.
Fix and flip loans fund the purchase and rehab of a property you’ll renovate and sell — up to 90% of purchase and 100% of rehab, capped at 75% of the after-repair value, with higher leverage available case-by-case for experienced borrowers. The full details are on our fix and flip financing page.
Rental and DSCR loans are for buy-and-hold investors and qualify on the property’s rental income rather than your personal income, with 30- and even 40-year terms. Florida rental investors should see our dedicated DSCR loan program in Florida.
Bridge loans span the gap between buying and arranging permanent financing — our bridge loan options keep a deal alive when timing is tight.
Multifamily loans finance five-plus-unit apartment and mixed-use deals, including value-add projects; see our multifamily lending program.
Transactional funding covers wholesalers who need to double-close, financing 100% of the closing with no cash out of pocket, on our transactional funding page. We also provide land loans, hard money refinances, and Airbnb and short-term rental loans through our short-term rental financing — a natural fit for Florida’s huge vacation-rental market.
The BRRRR Strategy in Florida
A large share of our Florida borrowers run the BRRRR method — buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat. We fund the purchase and rehab with short-term money, you place a tenant, and once there’s a signed lease we refinance into a long-term loan and pull your capital back out through a cash-out refinance of up to 80% of the appraised value. You recycle that capital into the next deal and repeat. In Florida’s deep rental and vacation markets, this is how investors scale a portfolio without running out of cash.
Working a Florida BRRRR, flip, or new build? Let’s structure the deal.
Florida Deal Spotlight: Orlando Cash-Out Refinance, No Seasoning
Here’s a recent Florida deal that shows how our no-seasoning refinance works in practice. An investor purchased a property in Orlando (ZIP 32818) and completed the renovation in under four months. With most lenders, they’d have been forced to wait out a six-to-twelve-month “seasoning” period before refinancing at the new, higher value — capital sitting frozen in the deal the whole time.
Because the property had been renovated, we refinanced against its current value right away, with no seasoning required. We closed a cash-out refinance at 75% LTV for a loan amount of $303,100, which let the investor pull $102,327 in cash out at closing. They used those proceeds to fund the purchase of their next property — recycling capital into the next deal instead of waiting half a year for a conventional lender’s clock to run out.
That’s the core of how serious Florida investors scale: renovate, refinance at current value, redeploy the cash. See our cash-out refinance program for how the no-seasoning structure works.
Florida Hard Money Loan Parameters
Florida Hard Money Loan Parameters
Frequently Asked Questions
The best Florida lender is the one that funds your specific deal fast and lends its own capital, with no middleman slowing the close. As a direct lender, Tidal Loans underwrites the property rather than your income and moves quickly in competitive markets like Orlando and Miami. We finance fix-and-flips, construction, rentals, and commercial deals across both metros and the rest of the state, which is why so many Florida investors work with us repeatedly.
Most Florida deals close at up to 90% of purchase plus 100% of rehab, with the combined loan capped at 75% of the after-repair value. Your down payment depends on the deal: a stronger ARV, a strong file, and prior flip experience earn the highest leverage; a thinner deal or a first-timer typically brings slightly more cash to closing. Ask us to structure a specific property and we’ll show you exactly what a qualifying file requires.
We have no minimum credit score. We do run a hard credit pull — any legitimate lender will, and you should be cautious of anyone advertising a true “no credit check” loan, which isn’t a real product. A lower score doesn’t disqualify your Florida deal the way it would at a bank; it simply means more conservative terms — a higher rate, a lower LTV, or additional reserves — while a stronger score earns better pricing and leverage. The property carries the underwriting weight; your score prices the deal.
Yes to both. Our Florida ground-up construction loans go up to 90% loan-to-cost and 75% of the after-construction value (the more conservative number governs), with 100% of hard construction costs funded through milestone draws. On the commercial side, we fund up to 65% LTV on commercial bridge and rehab loans and up to 70% LTV on long-term commercial financing at 30-year amortization. Both close faster than conventional options when timing or guidelines are an issue.
Tidal Loans closes fast and can close in days when the deal requires it. Because we underwrite the property instead of your income, there’s far less paperwork, no tax returns to dig up, and no lengthy committee process. In fast-moving markets like Orlando and Miami, that speed is frequently what wins the deal over a slower-funded buyer.
We lend statewide. Orlando, Miami, Tampa, and Jacksonville are our highest-volume markets, but we actively fund hard money loans in Sarasota, Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Ocala, and the surrounding areas. Each market has its own dynamics, and we structure each loan to fit the property and strategy in that specific area.
Yes. Florida’s condo and townhome inventory is a large part of the state’s investor activity, especially in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and along the Gulf Coast. Non-warrantable condos — which conventional lenders often decline — are also eligible under our DSCR long-term program once your flip stabilizes into a rental. Expect us to ask about HOA reserves, insurance coverage, and any pending assessments as part of underwriting.
Florida requires a valid homeowners policy with adequate windstorm coverage in place before we fund. In coastal counties, that policy will typically include a separate hurricane deductible, and inland deals need the standard fire and hazard structure. We coordinate with your insurance agent during underwriting to confirm the policy and premium won’t disrupt closing. It’s worth quoting insurance early on any Florida deal — premiums have moved a lot in the last few years, and they affect your DSCR when you refinance into a long-term rental.
They solve different problems in the same deal. A Florida hard money loan is short-term, asset-based financing to acquire and rehab an investment property — 12 months, interest-only, closed on the property’s ARV. A DSCR loan is long-term, 30- or 40-year financing that qualifies on the property’s rental income once it’s stabilized. Most of our Florida BRRRR investors run them in sequence: hard money to buy and renovate, then a DSCR cash-out refinance to pull their capital back out and repeat. Our DSCR loan program in Florida covers the long-term side in depth.
Yes. A first-time Florida flipper typically comes to us with slightly less leverage than a repeat investor — often more cash to closing and, in some cases, a lower ARV cap — but experience alone doesn’t disqualify a strong deal. What matters more is the ARV, the rehab scope, and how well the file tells the story of the finished property. We’ve funded plenty of Florida investors on their first deal, especially when the property is priced well against local comps.
We lend statewide, including Orlando, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach, Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota, Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Naples, Jacksonville, Tallahassee, Gainesville, Ocala, Panama City, and every submarket in between. Every Florida deal is underwritten locally to the specific property, comps, and market conditions — a Miami condo file is scoped differently from a Panama City single-family flip.
Ready to fund your Florida deal?
Get a fast quote from a direct lender that closes on your timeline — or walk your Orlando flip, Miami condo, or Gulf Coast rental through with a loan officer.