- Published minimum credit scores ran 600–660 in October 2026: Easy Street 600, RCN and New Silver 650, Lima One 660. Kiavi, Roc and Civic publish no floor.
- Leverage sets your down payment: 85–100% of the purchase and 100% of the rehab, capped at 70–80% of after-repair value. Plan on 10–15% of the price down, more on a first deal or heavy rehab.
- Lenders verify cash, not income. OfferMarket's rule is cash to close plus 25% of the rehab budget: about $45,000 on the $185,000 deal below.
- Files stall on the scope of work and the valuation more than the application. The lender's ARV, not yours, sizes the loan.
Fix and flip loan requirements fall into three groups: the borrower (credit, experience and cash), the deal (price, rehab budget and after-repair value, or ARV) and the paperwork (an entity, a scope of work and a valuation). A 660 score clears most published minimums, but a 760 won't rescue a deal that doesn't fit under the lender's ARV cap. Figures below are from lenders' own program pages and guides as of October 2026, and every one varies by lender.
The checklist: what lenders published
| Requirement | Published rule | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Credit score | 600–660 at lenders that publish one; 680 at OfferMarket, with exceptions at 660–679 | Above the floor, the score buys leverage and price |
| Experience | None at Roc, Civic and New Silver; one exit in 36 months at Lima One | Completed flips move you into better tiers |
| Purchase financed | 85–100% at program maximums; 75–90% for new investors at tiered lenders | Your down payment is the rest |
| Rehab financed | Up to 100% of the approved budget, released in draws | You pay for each phase first |
| Loan cap | 70–80% of ARV (Kiavi 80%; Roc, Civic, Easy Street, New Silver, RCN 75%) | If it binds, the shortfall is your cash |
| Minimums | Loans from $50,000 (Roc, Civic) or $100,000 (Kiavi, Lima One, LendingOne, New Silver); $100,000 as-is value at Lima One and New Silver | Cheap houses can fall under the floor |
| Entity | LLC or corporation required at Roc, Civic, Ridge Street and OfferMarket | Expect a personal guarantee |
| Term | 6–24 months, interest-only; 12 months standard at Roc and Civic | Leave slack beyond your plan |
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Credit: the minimum gets you in, the tier sets the price
Published minimums: Easy Street 600 (its FAQ calls that typical, not absolute), RCN Capital 650, New Silver 650 and Lima One 660. Kiavi says its loans are based on your FICO score and the ARV but gives no floor, and Roc and Civic say their rates vary with FICO, experience and how long you've owned the property.
Above the minimum, the score moves leverage and price. RCN reserves 100% purchase financing on moderate rehabs for borrowers with a 720+ score and ten or more flips, five of them in-state. Ridge Street Capital has no program below 660 and prices first-time flippers in three bands: 660–719, 720–739 and 740+. Credit is pulled on the people, not the LLC: OfferMarket runs a soft tri-merge report on each guarantor. Everyone who will sign the guarantee should check their reports before the lender does.
Experience: lenders count exits inside a lookback window
Some lenders require no experience, some set a minimum, and some size every loan by tier. Lima One's minimum is one investment-property exit in 36 months, and it counts the sale or refinance of any investment property you were on title for, not just a flip. The two published tier grids below show what a track record is worth.
| Tier | RCN Capital (flips in the last 3 years) | Ridge Street Capital (flips in the last 5 years) |
|---|---|---|
| Newest | Up to 2 flips: 80% of purchase, 70% of ARV, from 10.74% | First-time: 75–90% of purchase, from 10.99% |
| Middle | 3–5 flips: 90% of purchase, 72.5% of ARV, from 10.24% | 1–3 flips: 80–90% of purchase, from 10.75% |
| Top | More than 10 flips, 720+ credit: 95% of purchase, 75% of ARV, from 9.24% | 5+ flips: 85–90% of purchase, from 10.25% |
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Both finance 100% of the rehab at every tier, inside the ARV cap. RCN publishes a second grid by rehab level, covered in our guide to fix and flip loans for beginners. To prove your tier, keep a track record schedule, which LendingOne lists among the documents to have ready: each property's address, how title was held, purchase date and price, rehab spent, and exit date and amount, backed by the settlement statements and deeds.
Leverage: three caps decide your down payment
Lenders advance a share of the price, finance a share of the rehab and cap the total at a share of ARV. The labels aren't standard. Roc and Civic quote “up to 90% LTC” as a share of the purchase price, with up to 100% of the rehab on top. Easy Street quotes a blended “up to 93% LTC” alongside 90% of purchase and 100% of rehab, and LendingOne quotes 92.5%. They can describe the same loan: on a $185,000 purchase with a $65,000 rehab, 90% of the price plus all of the rehab is $231,500, or 92.6% of the $250,000 total cost.
With a $340,000 ARV and a 75% cap, the loan can't exceed $255,000. With $65,000 of rehab, the cap starts to bind once the price passes $211,111, and above that every extra dollar of price is yours. Scope matters too. Lima One's Quick Flip, for cosmetic work under 50% of the price, goes to 95% LTC, while RCN's heavy-rehab tiers carry lower percentages than its light ones. The same house with a bigger scope can earn a smaller advance.
Cash: lenders verify liquidity, not income
LendingOne says it requires no W-2s, tax returns or income verification, and Kiavi advertises none. What lenders check is cash, from recent bank statements. Few publish a figure. OfferMarket wants cash to close plus 25% of the rehab budget in liquid assets; Ridge Street recommends, without requiring, reserves for six months of holding costs; and Lima One sizes credit lines at up to 10 times your liquidity.
| Line | Published range or rule |
|---|---|
| Down payment | Price minus the purchase advance. Easy Street's FAQ puts its minimum at about 10%; OfferMarket requires at least $10,000 under $100,000. |
| Points | 0–2 at most programs; New Silver 1–1.75%; OfferMarket 1.5–2 with a $2,000 minimum; Ridge Street 1–4%. |
| Lender fees | Easy Street $1,995 doc fee; Ridge Street $1,250–1,995 for underwriting, legal and processing. |
| Title insurance | $1,000–3,000 in Ridge Street's range. |
| Insurance | Easy Street requires title, liability and hazard coverage. Ridge Street puts builder's risk at $1,500–2,000, or $5,000–10,000 in Miami and Tampa. |
| Draw fees (later) | $200–300 per draw at Ridge Street; $270 plus a $30 wire at OfferMarket. |
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Ridge Street puts total closing costs at roughly 3–6% of the project. After closing, interest, draw fees, taxes and utilities come monthly, and you fund each rehab phase until its draw pays.
Scope of work: the document underwriters read line by line
The scope of work (SOW) prices your rehab line by line, and it sets the holdback and the rules for every draw. Lima One's in-house construction team reviews each budget, and LendingOne names incomplete or unrealistic estimates as a common cause of underwriting delays. A scope that clears review quickly has:
- Line items with quantities and unit costs: 1,450 square feet of LVP at a stated price, not “flooring”.
- The contractor's bid and insurance certificate, plus a trade license where your state requires one.
- A schedule by phase that leaves room in the loan term to sell, and the permits each phase needs.
- A contingency as its own line; Ridge Street recommends 5–10%.
- Photos of the current condition, room by room.
The scope also has to support the ARV, because the valuer prices the house it describes. If your ARV assumes a third bedroom, the scope needs the wall, the closet, the egress window and the permit. Group the lines into milestones an inspector can verify; lenders published draw turnarounds of 24–48 hours, and our fix and flip draw process guide covers the rest.
Valuation: appraisal, desktop or in-house, and it sets your cap
Methods differ more than most borrowers expect. New Silver requires an interior-access appraisal. Lima One offers self-directed appraisals with valuations in five days or less, and LendingOne a desktop appraisal. Kiavi and Easy Street value in-house with no third-party appraisal, and OfferMarket accepts either, with the borrower paying for an appraisal. Ridge Street's licensed appraiser reports an as-is value and an ARV in about 5–7 days.
None of those pages says whether an in-house valuation is a broker price opinion (BPO), an automated model or a desk review, so ask. A local agent who walks the house judges condition differently from a model built on public records. Send the scope with the finish level spelled out, offer closed sales rather than listings, and give access. On a 75% cap, every $10,000 the ARV comes in low takes $7,500 off the maximum loan.
Entity, guarantee and the document list
Roc and Civic require an entity borrower and lend on full recourse only; Ridge Street and OfferMarket close only in an LLC or corporation. Expect the owners to sign a personal guarantee. Entity setup has tax and liability consequences, so have a CPA or real estate attorney form it before you sign a contract in its name.
| Document | Why the lender wants it |
|---|---|
| Signed purchase contract | Sets the price the advance is based on |
| Scope of work and budget | Sizes the holdback and draw schedule |
| Articles of organization, operating agreement, EIN | Shows who borrows and who signs |
| Photo ID for each guarantor | Identity and the credit pull |
| Recent bank statements | Verifies cash to close and reserves |
| Track record schedule | Places you in a tier |
| Contractor bid and insurance certificate | Supports the budget |
| Insurance quote or binder | Required coverage in place at closing |
| Exit plan | A sale price, or the rent if you refinance |
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Property and location rules
Every program funds non-owner-occupied 1–4 unit homes; Easy Street goes to 8 units and Kiavi includes manufactured homes. New Silver excludes rural property and sites over 5 acres, and OfferMarket wants three years of experience for rural deals. Roc doesn't lend in North Dakota, South Dakota or Vermont. Easy Street excludes Louisiana, Minnesota and the Dakotas, plus the Baltimore, Chicago and Detroit metros, and Ridge Street cuts leverage 5% in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Cleveland. Everywhere, these are business-purpose loans for property neither you nor your family will live in; a home you'll move into needs a residential renovation mortgage.
Timeline: one to three weeks to close, then draws as work finishes
| Step | Published timing |
|---|---|
| Term sheet | Same day at Easy Street; within 2 business hours at Ridge Street |
| Valuation | 5 days or less at Lima One; 5–7 days at Ridge Street |
| Closing | As fast as 7 days at Kiavi; 7–10 business days at LendingOne; within 3 weeks for repeat borrowers at Lima One |
| Draws | 24 hours at Lima One; 48 hours at Easy Street, once a request is complete |
| Term | 6–24 months; 12 standard at Roc and Civic, 18 case by case |
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Set your contract's financing deadline around the slowest step, usually the valuation, and size the term for the project you'd have if things slip. OfferMarket charges 1% of the loan for a first 3-month extension and 2.5% for a first 6-month one, capped at half the original term, and interest keeps running.
Worked example: one deal run through every requirement
The borrower has a 700 score, two completed flips and an LLC. The deal: a $185,000 purchase, a $65,000 rehab and a $340,000 ARV, over six months. Terms match the published maximums at Roc, Civic and Easy Street: 90% of purchase, 100% of rehab, a 75% ARV cap. Pricing: an assumed 10.25% on drawn funds (just under the 2025 HMDA median of 10.45% for non-bank short-term investor loans), 1.5 points and a $1,995 doc fee.
| Requirement | Lender rule | This deal | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Credit | 600–660 minimums | 700 | Clears |
| Loan and value minimums | $100,000 loan; $100,000 as-is | $231,500 loan; $185,000 price | Clears |
| Purchase advance | 90% of $185,000 | $166,500 | $18,500 down |
| ARV cap | 75% of $340,000 = $255,000 | $231,500 loan | Fits, $23,500 to spare |
| Rehab vs price | Quick Flip line: under 50% | 35% | Moderate, not heavy |
| Liquidity | Cash to close + 25% of rehab | $28,768 + $16,250 | Show about $45,018 |
| Term | 12 months standard | 6-month plan | Six months of slack |
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| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Down payment | $18,500 |
| Points (1.5% of $231,500) and doc fee | $3,473 + $1,995 |
| Title and closing costs (assumed) | $3,000 |
| Builder's risk insurance (assumed) | $1,800 |
| Cash to close | $28,768 |
| Interest on drawn funds, 6 months | $10,476 |
| Draw fees (4 × $250) and carry ($500 a month, assumed) | $1,000 + $3,000 |
| Contingency (10% of rehab) | $6,500 |
| First-phase float, repaid by draw 1 | $16,250 |
| Cash to have available | $65,994 |
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Interest: the $166,500 purchase advance costs $1,422 a month, $8,533 over six months. The rehab is drawn in four $16,250 draws at the end of months 1 to 4, which adds $1,943, for $10,476 in all. Sold at $340,000 with 7% selling costs ($23,800), total costs are $298,544, leaving $41,456 before income tax and before the contingency. Note the gap: the lender's rule needs about $45,000 in the bank, but the project can call on $65,994 before the sale closes.
Two ways the same deal misses a requirement
A low valuation. At a lender ARV of $320,000, a 75% cap is $240,000 and the loan still fits. On a 70% cap, common for newer investors and heavy rehabs, it's $224,000: the loan is cut $7,500 and the down payment rises to $26,000.
A new borrower. At RCN's newest tier, 80% of purchase and 70% of ARV, the advance is $148,000 and the loan $213,000, under a $238,000 cap, but the down payment doubles to $37,000. Size a first deal on beginner terms, not program maximums.