Hard Money Lenders in Chicago

Chicago hard money lenders are fewer than the city's size suggests, and they are concentrated: three of the four below have downtown offices on West Adams Street, North Clinton Street and East Erie Street, and the fourth is on North Damen Avenue. Chicago Hard Money and Bridge Loans says it lends only in Chicagoland, meaning the city and about an hour around it, and Armitage Street focuses its marketing on the Chicagoland area. That local focus is useful, because at least one national lender excludes the city outright.

Chicago hard money lenders and what they publish

Ratings and review counts are as shown on each lender's Google Maps listing on October 30, 2026. Terms are quoted from each lender's own website, read the same day; "None published" means its site gives no rates or leverage. Listed alphabetically, not ranked. Confirm current terms with the lender.

Breclaw Capital publishes the clearest flip terms: up to 90% of the purchase price plus 100% of rehab, capped at 75% of ARV, and up to 80% on rate-and-term refinances. Renovo Financial makes rehab loans of $100,000 to $2,000,000, with larger loans case by case, and caps multifamily loans at 75% LTV. The other two publish no rates or leverage, so ask them for a written term sheet.

Hard money loans in Chicago: Breclaw's terms on a median-priced flip

Suppose a Chicago house would resell at the $334,100 Census median after an assumed $50,000 rehab. The 70% rule sets the price at $183,870. Under Breclaw Capital's published limits the loan is 90% of $183,870 plus the full $50,000, or $215,483, well under 75% of ARV ($250,575). You would bring $18,387 toward price and rehab, plus closing costs and the transfer tax below. Breclaw does not publish its rate, so ask for a written quote and compare it with the national rates on the rates page.

Chicago transfer tax: who pays what

The City of Chicago charges $5.25 per $500 of the transfer price, or fraction of $500: $3.75 for the City portion, which the buyer generally pays, and $1.50 for the CTA portion, which the seller generally pays (City of Chicago). On the $334,100 median price that is 669 units of $500, so the buyer owes $2,508.75 and the seller $1,003.50, $3,512.25 in total.

On a flip you pay the buyer's share when you buy and the seller's share when you sell, so both halves land on the same project. State law allows more on top: the Illinois Department of Revenue says counties may impose a tax of 25 cents per $500 and home rule municipalities may impose their own (Illinois DOR). Ask your closing attorney for the full stamp total before you set your offer.

A DSCR loan in Chicago on the median rent

For a buy-and-hold exit, a DSCR loan in Chicago runs into the same arithmetic as most big cities. Express Capital Financing, which says it lends in Illinois, lists rental loans from 6.25% with a 1.0x ratio and up to 85% of the purchase price, which its FAQ calls rare (Express Capital). At 80%, the loan on the median value is $267,280 and costs $1,645.69 a month in principal and interest. The $1,440 median rent covers 0.88 of that; at 1.0x the rent supports about $233,874 before taxes and insurance.

Chicago's two-flats and three-flats are where the math is more likely to work, because the lender counts rent from every unit. Run your building's rent roll through the DSCR calculator, and see DSCR loans in Illinois for each lender's minimum ratio.

Cook County Sheriff foreclosure sales

Unlike the once-a-month sales in Dallas, San Antonio and Atlanta, the Cook County Sheriff's foreclosure sales are daily. The Sheriff says its sales are held Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, at 1 p.m. at the Daley Center, Lower Level outside of Room 06, 50 W. Washington, Chicago (Cook County Sheriff). With a sale nearly every weekday, a buyer who has a lender pre-committed can act as soon as a property fits.

How Cook County property tax rates are set

There is no single Chicago rate to quote. The Cook County Clerk's Tax Extension Unit calculates the rate for every taxing district from the Assessor's values and each district's levy, and publishes them in the Annual Tax Rate Report (Cook County Clerk). A Chicago bill combines the rates of every district that taxes the property, so look up the property's own tax code and last bill when you budget carrying costs.

Questions to ask a Chicago lender

• Do you lend inside the city limits? Easy Street Capital, for example, lists Illinois but excludes Chicago.
• Will you lend on a two-flat or three-flat as residential, and does that change your leverage?
• Can you fund a Sheriff's sale purchase at the Daley Center on short notice, given that sales run every weekday?
• Who orders the transfer stamps, and will the buyer's $3.75 City portion be counted in the loan-to-cost?
• If the property is multifamily, will you cap the loan by LTV, as Renovo Financial does at 75%, or by cost?

Chicago in Census figures

Chicago has 1,277,054 housing units, second only to New York City among the ten cities here, and 116,849 of them (9.1%) were unoccupied when surveyed. Renters occupy 54.0% of the 1,160,205 occupied homes. The $1,440 median rent is 5.17% of the median value over a year.

Chicago hard money lenders from national programs

9 national lenders say they lend in Illinois: Lima One Capital, Kiavi, Easy Street Capital, New Silver, Sherman Bridge, Express Capital Financing, LendingOne, Ternus and Griffin Funding. One caveat matters here: Easy Street Capital lists Illinois but says it does not lend in Chicago. Upright is not counted: its Illinois page says short-term loans are not currently offered there and DSCR rental loans are, except in the city of Chicago (Upright Illinois page), while its main state list still shows Illinois as coming soon (Upright state list). Groundfloor, RCN Capital and CoreVest do not publish a state list. Full terms are on the Illinois hard money lenders page.

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