Can a foreign national borrow?

With private lenders, commonly yes. These are asset-based loans, so no US credit history is often workable. Expect to provide identity documents, evidence of source of funds, and to take title in a US entity.

Why do lenders ask so much about the condo association?

Because the building carries risk the unit cannot escape. A large unfunded assessment or a failing structural inspection affects value and marketability regardless of the condition of the unit itself.

Do you lend in Miami Beach and the coastal cities?

Yes, and those municipalities often have their own permitting and review requirements. It affects the schedule rather than the financing.

How does the loan get paid back?

Sale or refinance, and the exit needs to be real before the loan is made. If the exit is a refinance, run that loan's numbers today rather than assuming they will be there later.

Miami

Hard money loans in Miami

Miami-Dade is its own market, and three things here shape a private-money file more than they do elsewhere in Florida: the condo stock, the share of foreign capital, and a permitting environment that rewards people who plan around it.

Tell us about the Miami deal

The Miami particulars

Condominiums dominate large parts of the county, and after Surfside the rules around them changed permanently. Florida now requires milestone structural inspections and reserve studies for older buildings, and many associations have responded with large special assessments. For a lender, a building with a failed milestone inspection or an unfunded reserve is a different risk from the unit inside it — which is why a Miami condo file lives or dies on the association's documents as much as on the borrower's.

Foreign national buyers are ordinary here rather than exceptional. Private lenders routinely work with borrowers who have no US credit file, using the property and the equity to carry the decision. What is required instead is identity documentation, source-of-funds evidence and usually a US entity to take title. Plan for the entity and the banking relationship early — those take longer than the loan.

Miami-Dade permitting varies sharply between the county and its municipalities, and some of the older coastal cities have their own review layers. A renovation in one zip code can be a different timeline from the same scope two miles away. If your exit depends on finishing by a date, confirm the permitting path before you commit to it.

Flood zones and elevation are everyday considerations rather than edge cases in coastal Miami-Dade. An elevation certificate can change the insurance materially, and insurance changes what the deal can carry.

What a Miami file turns on

The association, on condos

Reserves, milestone inspection status, pending assessments and litigation. The building is underwritten alongside the unit.

Entity and identity, on foreign capital

A US entity to take title, documented identity and source of funds. Start these early — they outlast the loan timeline.

The specific municipality

Permitting differs between Miami-Dade and its cities. The timeline is set by whichever one governs your parcel.

Flood and elevation

Coastal exposure affects insurance cost and, through it, what the property can support.

Miami questions

Can a foreign national borrow?: With private lenders, commonly yes. These are asset-based loans, so no US credit history is often workable. Expect to provide identity documents, evidence of source of funds, and to take title in a US entity.
Why do lenders ask so much about the condo association?: Because the building carries risk the unit cannot escape. A large unfunded assessment or a failing structural inspection affects value and marketability regardless of the condition of the unit itself.
Do you lend in Miami Beach and the coastal cities?: Yes, and those municipalities often have their own permitting and review requirements. It affects the schedule rather than the financing.
How does the loan get paid back?: Sale or refinance, and the exit needs to be real before the loan is made. If the exit is a refinance, run that loan's numbers today rather than assuming they will be there later.

For how this loan works generally — the documents, the process and the full question list — see Hard money loans.