Two investors signed term sheets on the same Tuesday. Same purchase price. Same rehab budget. Same lender.
One funded in six business days. The other in nineteen.
The difference wasn't underwriting. It was an LLC.
Borrower A had the entity formed, the tax ID letter in hand, a signed contract and a line-item contractor bid sitting in a folder. Borrower B started the entity after the term sheet and waited on the state. Thirteen extra days of carry — plus a seller spending two weeks wondering whether the deal was real.
The Thing Most Operators Get Backwards
Almost nothing a hard money lender needs from you has anything to do with the property.
Entity documents, ID, credit authorization, bank statements, your schedule of real estate owned — every one of those can be pulled the week before you shop. Yet they are the items that most often sit unfinished while a purchase contract runs its clock.
We issue a term sheet in about 2 hours and close in 5 to 10 business days. Document readiness is the biggest variable inside that range, and it's the one entirely under your control.
The market doesn't wait either. The median home went under contract in 29 days in July 2026 (NAR, published August 11). Nobody is holding a property for your paperwork.
The Borrower File — Build This Before You Find a Deal
| Document | Why the lender needs it | How to get it |
|---|---|---|
| Articles of organization | Confirms the borrowing entity exists and is in good standing | State filing portal |
| Operating agreement | Shows who can sign and bind the entity | Your attorney or formation service |
| Certificate of status | Proves the entity is active, not administratively dissolved | State filing portal, usually same day |
| IRS letter showing your tax ID | Ties the entity to a federal EIN for the note and title work | IRS online, issued in minutes |
| Government ID for each 20%+ owner | Identity verification and guaranty signature | You already have it |
| Credit authorization | Runs the soft or hard pull on guarantors | Lender's form, one signature |
| Two to three months of bank statements | Proves liquidity for down payment, closing costs and reserves | Your bank's PDF export |
| Schedule of real estate owned | Establishes your experience tier, which drives your leverage | Maintain it in a spreadsheet |
Two practical notes on the two items that most often cause the delay.
Entity formation. In Florida, articles of organization plus the registered agent designation run $125, and the Division of Corporations' own processing dashboard showed online filings being handled in roughly two to three business days in early September 2026 — mailed filings several days behind that, plus transit each way. Those dates move, so check the state's processing-dates page rather than trusting a number in a blog post. Form the entity when you decide to buy, not when you find the house. Our guide to buying real estate in an LLC covers the structuring side.
The tax ID. The IRS issues an EIN online in minutes, free. Two constraints catch people: the responsible party needs an SSN or ITIN, and the IRS allows one EIN per responsible party per day. Fax takes about four business days; mail takes about four weeks. There is no reason to ever be on the mail path.
The Deal File — Assembled Once You're Under Contract
- Executed purchase contract, with all addenda and the assignment if you're taking one.
- Line-item contractor bid or scope of work. Not a one-line number. Underwriting sizes the rehab holdback and the draw schedule off this document, so a vague bid becomes a conservative holdback. Our rehab cost guide shows the line-item structure lenders expect.
- Your comps and exit plan. What it sells or rents for, and when. This is where your after-repair value gets defended.
- Insurance binder naming the correct entity with the correct mortgagee clause. This is the single most common preventable cause of a slipped closing date — the full breakdown is in investment property insurance requirements.
What We Order For You
You don't chase these. Knowing they exist tells you where the calendar actually goes.
| Item | Who orders it | Realistic window |
|---|---|---|
| Valuation or appraisal | Lender | Roughly one to two weeks, market-dependent |
| Title search and title commitment | Lender or title company | A few days on a clean chain, longer with liens or probate |
| Payoff and lien clearance | Title company | Varies entirely with the counterparty |
| Flood determination | Lender | Same day |
Those appraisal and title windows are our experience, not published statistics — no credible 2026 survey measures them. Treat them as planning ranges and ask your lender what they're seeing that month.
Where the Days Actually Go
Illustrative, on a deal that should have closed in six business days:
| Stall | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Entity formed after the term sheet | 3–7 business days |
| Contractor bid rewritten because it was one line | 2–4 business days |
| Insurance binder issued to the wrong named insured | 1–3 business days |
| Title surprise nobody pulled minutes on | Open-ended |
None of the first three are underwriting problems. All three are folder problems.
For scale: the average conventional purchase mortgage closed in 36.8 days in March 2026 (ICE Mortgage Monitor, May 2026), and ATTOM put the average time to flip at 165 days in Q1 2026. Every day you hand back at origination is a day of carry you underwrote as profit.
The Pre-Application Pass
Before you send anything, run this:
- Is the entity active today, and does the certificate of status say so?
- Does the name on the tax ID letter match the entity on the contract, character for character?
- Do the bank statements show the down payment, closing costs and post-close reserves?
- Is the contractor bid line-item, signed and dated?
- Does your schedule of real estate owned include the two deals you closed since you last updated it?
Five questions. Most borrowers fail at least one, and each failure costs days.
Get Your Term Sheet Today
Send us the deal and the folder, and you'll have terms in about 2 hours: fix and flip from 8.75% up to 90% LTC, DSCR from 6.75%, new construction up to 85% of cost. Close in 5–10 business days. 45 states — everywhere except VT, UT, OR, SD and ND.
Terms are subject to underwriting, appraisal, title, and insurance.
Or call us directly: (305) 857-5620 | processing@fundedcapital.com
Not sure which program fits? Run the deal through our calculator first, then send us the folder.
Terms are subject to underwriting, appraisal, title, and insurance.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Written by
Luis Fajardo
Senior Sales Director, Funded Capital · Lending to real estate investors nationwide — $500M+ funded across 1,200+ deals.