Hard money rewards prepared investors. The loan is short-term and property-first, which means the file tells a story — buy this, fix that, exit this way — and every document either proves a chapter or leaves a question an underwriter must chase. Chasing takes days; proving takes a folder you built once.
This checklist reflects what wholesale lenders commonly ask business-purpose investors for non-owner-occupied property. Exact requests vary by program, and Hard Money Loan App will map the list to your scenario as a mortgage broker. Nothing here is a consumer mortgage list, because this site arranges investment-property financing only.
Which property documents should you gather first?
Start with the executed purchase contract, the property address and the numbers you underwrote: price, estimated finished value with comparable sales, and your rent or resale evidence. Add the scope of work as a line-item budget, not a single renovation total. Roof, systems, kitchen, baths, flooring, permits and contingency, each with its own figure, reads as a plan. One round number reads as a guess.
Name the exit in writing on page one of your own notes. Sale, with the comparable sales that support it, or refinance into a DSCR loan, with the rent coverage math attached. When the exit is written early, every later document request feels obvious instead of adversarial.
What entity and borrower records may be requested?
Many investors borrow through an entity such as an LLC. Expect to provide formation documents, the operating agreement, an EIN letter, and identification for members, plus details of who signs and who guarantees where a program asks. If the entity is new, say so early; new entities are common in this world and surprise is the only real problem.
Personal financial evidence usually centers on liquidity: bank or brokerage statements showing reserves for down payment, closing costs, carrying payments and the renovation float between draws. Keep two clean months ready. Pages scattered across screenshots slow a file more than any underwriting guideline.
How should you prepare the contractor, budget and draws?
Renovation money commonly moves in draws after work is completed and verified, so the file wants a contractor who exists on paper: license where required, insurance, contact details and ideally a track record. A signed agreement with a start date and a draw-aligned schedule turns your budget from a spreadsheet into a schedule other people can fund.
Plan the float honestly. Materials, deposits and the first phase of labor often precede the first draw, and inspections add days between finished work and released money. Investors who model draw timing into their cash plan finish projects; investors who assume renovation money behaves like a debit card meet their contingency line early.
Why should you verify insurance and taxes early?
Bind insurance thinking early. Rental and renovation-phase coverage differs, older roofs draw questions, and coastal or wildfire-exposed addresses can reprice a whole deal. Get a real quote during diligence, not a placeholder. The same goes for property taxes after purchase: rebuild them at the expected assessment so the exit math survives contact with the tax bill.
Title, appraisal and flood determination arrive through the process, but you can pre-answer their common questions: known liens, open permits, HOA rules on leasing, and whether any part of the property is used personally. Remember the bright line — business-purpose, non-owner-occupied property only. Mixed personal use ends the conversation on this site.
How do we use your project checklist?
Send what you have, labeled plainly, with the scenario summary on top: address, price, budget, timeline, entity, exit. Hard Money Loan App arranges and shops the file with wholesale lenders whose programs fit the property and scope, then gives you one consolidated list of what remains instead of a drip of surprises.
Incomplete is fine; disorganized is expensive. Use this checklist to build the folder once and reuse it across deals, updating statements and insurance as they refresh. Prepared investors close cleaner, draw smoother and refinance calmer.
How can you document completed work for draws?
Picture a mid-project kitchen: cabinets installed, counters templated, appliances on a truck. The draw request goes in with photographs and invoices, an inspection confirms the stage, and money moves for the work already proven. The investors who sail through this rhythm share one habit — they photograph everything before walls close and keep a simple log tying each invoice to a budget line, so verification is a formality instead of an investigation.
Build that log from day one and share it before each request. Pair it with a weekly one-paragraph update to everyone on the file: what finished, what is next, what slipped and why. That cadence costs an hour a month and buys the kind of trust that makes the second and third draw easier than the first, which is how renovation financing is supposed to feel.
One last habit separates smooth files from frantic ones: never let a document be a surprise. Send the budget before the contract, the insurance quote before the appraisal and the contractor license before anyone asks. Surprises in a short-term loan are just interest on disorganization, paid in days.
What belongs on a project cover sheet?
Put a single page on top of the checklist: property address, entity name, purchase price, total rehab budget, contingency line, expected finished value or rent, target completion month and the exit in one sentence. List which documents are attached and which are still coming, with an expected date beside each. Reviewers read hundreds of loosely labeled folders; a cover sheet that answers the first ten questions before they are asked tells the reader the project is managed. It also forces you to notice gaps, such as a contractor agreement with no start date or an insurance quote that excludes vacancy during renovation, before anyone else does.