Bozeman is the fourth biggest city in Montana, and the county seat of Gallatin County. The metropolitan area has been rapidly growing, and has been the fastest growing area in the United States in recent years. Bozeman is famously home to Montana State University and Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport.
Bozeman is a very investor-focused market, which is very affordable and business friendly. It is also a very strong tourism economy due to being home to the largest dinosaur fossil collection in the world (the Museum of the Rockies). There are constantly street festivals and performing arts, and there are also two ski resorts nearby. As home to Montana State University, there are a lot of academics and college students and employees looking for rental properties as well as homes, and Peak Property Management notes renting to college students can be incredibly lucrative.
With a population of around 40,000 people, Bozeman has become a growing place to invest in real estate.
According to Niche, Bozeman is the best place to live in Montana. It has great schools and is a great public schools. It also is a great place to raise a family and has great night life. It is a huge renters’ market and is a terrific place for real estate investors to invest in long-term rentals. Right now, Bozeman has a median home value of $365,600 and a median rent price of $1,078, which are only slightly above the national average.
Right now, Bozeman is a seller’s market. Demand is outpacing supply in the city, and homes are selling quickly and for higher than the listing price. Real estate investors might get into bidding wars within the state for competitive properties, and it is essential for real estate investors in Bozeman to put down fast offers to compete.
Hard money loans might be the best way to invest in real estate in Bozeman. Hard money loans are mostly used for real estate transactions like construction projects, fix and flips, and long-term rentals, but their biggest advantage in a seller’s market is their very fast speed of approval. Hard money loans can be approved in a couple of days, whereas traditional mortgage loans can take more or less a month to be approved.
They come with plenty of risks and have the reputation of being “last resort loans” because hard money loans are based on the property, not the financial standing of the applicant. This makes them inherently riskier than traditional mortgage loans. It’s not like credit scores or other aspects of financial standing don’t matter: hard money loans often require minimum credit scores of 600 to 620.
However, hard money loans have rates and terms that are based on the after repair value of the property. They use the property as collateral, which means if a borrower defaults on a hard money loan, the lender takes on the property, which is very different from a foreclosure where the bank initiates a foreclosure.
However, hard money loans can have very unforgiving rates because of the added risk the lender takes on. They can have lower LTV ratios, higher interest rates, and shorter repayment periods than traditional mortgage loans. They have interest rates of 8–15% and repayment periods of more or less a year, which are both significantly less forgiving than mortgage loans.
It’s important to only trust the best hard money lenders. At Hard Money Lenders IO, we have you covered — these are the best hard money lenders in Bozeman, Montana.