I had a borrower come to me last week with a flip that wouldn't move.
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$50K into rehab. Priced at $700K. Dropped it to $650K trying to get traction.
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Meanwhile, he's bleeding hard money fees every month with no exit in sight.
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He decided to refinance and keep the property as a rental to stop the bleeding.
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Most flippers assume refinancing is straightforward once the rehab is done β especially if the appraisal comes in strong.
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So they drop the price, wait for the right buyer, and plan to refi if it doesn't sell.
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βοΈ What they DONβT know is that price drop just became the number their lender has to work with.
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If your property is listed β or was listed in the last 6 months β a DSCR lender cannot use appraised value. They use the lowest list price on record.
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So his math changed fast.
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Property appraised at $700K. Loan at 75% LTV. He wanted $525K out.
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But the lender had to base the loan on that $650K price drop. His actual loan came in at $487,500.
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That's $37K less than he was counting on.
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The fix: donβt drop and delist before you apply.
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π Most lenders need 6 months off market before they can ignore the list price history and go back to appraised value.
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Know this before you cut the price.
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If you're sitting on a flip that isn't moving and you're thinking about refinancing out, get off market first.
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THEN start the conversation with your lender.
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Timing this wrong is an expensive lesson. Hopefully this saves someone from learning it the hard way.