Investment property loans are going to be a key ingredient in your success at starting or improving your investment properties portfolio. Today I want to take a moment to talk to you investment property loans so that you can make some wise and profitable decisions regarding property investment. In the current economic climate, many people are underwater on their mortgages and as I write this home foreclosures are still historically high. This is unfortunate for many people and my heart goes out to them. But for you and I, the ones who are thrifty, frugal or generally have some liquid cash to play with, now couldn’t be a better time to look at investing in properties.
As I write this we are very fortunate to have unbelievably low investment property loan rates. I’ve seen some investment property mortgage rates as low as 4.25% for a 30 year fixed term. Now you will pay a little more generally when you are funding investment property. Investment property financing can be a little more challenging because lenders generally know that you are not as vested in the property both emotionally or physically as you would be if it is your primary residence. So for their peace of mind you might expect to be charged a quarter percent more than you would for your own home.
However, investment property loans as I mentioned earlier are a terrific way for you to create positive cash flow from your investment property and plan for some decent retirement income. So here is how I would go about making the most of an investment property loan. Now unless you know what you are doing, I would advise against hard money loans or bridge loans which are asset based loan financing instruments that carry substantially higher interest rates and require substantial down payments on the property you are thinking of investing in. For your first or perhaps first few investment property loans stick to traditional financing.
In order to get the best rates possible which is after all what we should be after. I mean, the less you are paying in interest, the more the investment property income is working for you and not for the banks who, quite frankly, don’t need our help, despite what the government might have thought 
. So before you even start looking at lending companies take a good look at your credit score and make sure you deal with any issues there. Also save at least 25% for a downpayment. This by itself can get you better investment property loan rates and shows how serious you are of making your investment property work.
Also, be completely transparent. Don’t offer information needlessly but be honest and forthright when financial information is requested of you. You are hopefully going to investing in property and investing in real estate for some time. There is no reason to have skeletons and litte white lies always banging away in the closet just itching to get out. Once you have these in place, get yourself the best pre-approved rate you can and get out there and find your investment property. You are in a much stronger bargaining position with sellers when they know that you have investment property loans in place already.