Real Estate Business Loans
Run your brokerage without waiting for the closing table.
Built for brokerages, agent teams, and property management companies. Checking your options takes about two minutes.
Business loans for real estate businesses
Keep your brokerage moving while you wait on commissions. Real estate income arrives in bursts: a few deals close in the same month, then the pipeline goes quiet while office rent, marketing, and payroll keep running. FundBetter gives you capital that smooths out those gaps, so a slow settlement week never costs you the next opportunity.
Whether you're growing a brokerage, building an agent team, or running a property management portfolio, you get one application, a real advisor who understands the business, and funds in as little as 24 hours.
Why real estate businesses need working capital
Uneven commission timing
Cover payroll, lead spend, and office costs the month they hit. They run every month. Commission checks don't.
Spending starts at the listing
Fund every listing the day it goes live, when it costs the brokerage real money and the commission that covers it's months away.
Deals that fall out
Stay funded when a financing contingency or a bad inspection ends a closing you have already spent against.
Real estate business loans are not mortgages or hard money
A real estate business loan puts working capital behind the business you run, not the property you're buying. It pays for agent recruiting, listing costs, office space, software, payroll, and marketing. It isn't a mortgage, and it isn't a hard money loan against a specific address. If you need acquisition financing on an investment property, that's a different product from a different kind of lender.
The distinction matters because most brokerages and property management firms don't have a property problem. They have a timing problem. An agent takes a listing, and the brokerage starts spending immediately on photography, staging, signage, portal placement, and lead generation. The property sits on the market for weeks, then goes under contract. Inspection, appraisal, and financing contingencies take another thirty to forty-five days. The commission arrives at closing, split with the agent and often with a cooperating brokerage, months after the first dollar went out.
Any link in that chain can break. Financing falls through. An inspection turns up a roof. A buyer walks. When a deal falls out, the money spent on it doesn't come back, and the income it represented disappears from a month you had already planned around. That's why brokerage income is lumpy even in a strong year. Three closings in March and none in April is normal for a small office, and splits, marketing, and salaries don't follow that rhythm.
Business line of credit vs. short-term business loan
Most brokerages and property managers choose between a business line of credit and a short-term business loan. They solve different problems.
| Business line of credit | Short-term business loan | |
|---|---|---|
| What it funds best | Recurring, unpredictable costs: listing and staging spend, lead generation, payroll through a quiet closing month. | One project with a known price: an office buildout, a CRM migration, a recruiting push, a new property management division. |
| How money reaches you | Draw against an approved limit whenever you need to, then draw again as you repay. | The full amount lands in your account once, up front. |
| How you repay it | Only on what you have drawn. An untouched line costs nothing to keep open. | Fixed payments on the full balance from day one, whether or not deals closed that month. |
| Flexibility | High. The line refreshes as you repay, ready for the next listing cycle without reapplying. | Low by design. One disbursement, one payoff schedule, then it is finished. |
| Who it suits | Brokerages and agent teams with irregular closing volume that need a buffer between commission checks. | Property managers with steady monthly fee income, or a brokerage making a one-time investment it can service. |
What real estate business loans pay for
Almost all of it's spending that funding covers before any commission or fee arrives.
Recruiting agents to the brokerage
Fund the recruiting offer that brings on producing agents: signing bonuses, a better split, or covering desk and marketing costs for a first year. A strong agent can take six to twelve months to produce a closing under your roof. The recruiting cost is due now.
Listing and staging costs fronted before closing
Front the photography, video, staging rental, print, signage, and paid portal placement on every listing without stalling the next one. Multiply that across an active roster and you have real capital sitting in inventory that only converts when properties close.
Office and brand buildout
A conference room where clients sign, private offices that help you recruit, signage, and a rebrand after a franchise change all cost money before they return any, and funding lets you build them without waiting. Buildout is the clearest case for a fixed-term loan rather than a revolving line.
Real estate CRM and transaction management software
CRM licenses, transaction coordination platforms, e-signature tools, and lead routing are billed annually per seat, and funding lets you lock in the annual price. Paying twelve months up front is cheaper, but only if you hold the cash when the renewal hits.
Property management startup costs
Stand up a property management arm before the fees catch up to the overhead. Adding property management means trust accounting software, a maintenance vendor network, staff who answer tenant calls, and insurance. Doors come one at a time and fees ramp slowly, so the first year runs at a deficit before recurring income covers the overhead. Managers who bill commercial owners on terms can also use invoice factoring to pull those fee invoices forward.
When to borrow against a real estate pipeline, and when not to
A real estate pipeline can support smart borrowing, but it isn't revenue. Treating it as revenue is the most common way real estate businesses get into trouble with debt.
When a real estate pipeline supports borrowing
- Contracts are past inspection and appraisal, with financing cleared and a scheduled closing date.
- The pipeline spans several deals across different buyers, agents, and price points, so one fallout does not erase most of the expected income.
- The money buys more production, such as recruiting an agent or funding listing inventory, rather than covering last month.
- Management fee income or another steady source can carry the payment on its own if closings stall.
When a real estate pipeline does not support borrowing
- The pipeline is mostly new listings or unaccepted offers. Those are opportunities, not receivables, and days on market can run far past your estimate.
- One large transaction represents most of the expected commission. If that buyer walks, you still owe the full balance.
- You are borrowing to cover splits and payroll already owed. New debt on top of a shortfall makes the next quiet month worse, not better.
- The gross commission looks large, but after the agent split and any cooperating brokerage share, the business keeps a fraction of it. Borrow against the net, never the gross.
Best ways to use real estate business loans
The everyday cost of running the office, not the cost of buying property.
- Recruiting and retaining agents
- Listing photography and staging
- Payroll between closings
- Marketing and lead generation
- Buying or leasing office space
- Transaction and CRM software
Funding options for brokerages and property management companies
Some of these costs arrive with every new listing or hire. Others, like an office purchase, come once and stay on the books for years.
Long-Term Business Loans
Fund a rehab or an office purchase over a term that outlasts a single closing cycle.
Learn moreSBA Loans
Buying or improving the space your brokerage occupies fits the long SBA repayment structure.
Learn moreBusiness Lines of Credit
Draw for earnest money and carrying costs, then repay when commissions land.
Learn moreShort-Term Business Loans
Fund a listing marketing push or a hire with a payback window set to closings.
Learn moreWho qualifies for real estate business loans?
Approval is based on the revenue moving through the business, not on a steady salary. Commission income and management fee income both count.
Check if you qualifyFrequently Asked Questions
Is a real estate business loan the same as a mortgage or hard money loan?
No. A real estate business loan funds the operating company: the brokerage, the agent team, or the property management firm. It pays for recruiting, listings, payroll, software, and office costs. A mortgage or hard money loan finances the purchase of a specific property and is secured by that property. FundBetter funds the business, not the acquisition.
Can I get funding to recruit agents to my brokerage?
Yes. Recruiting is one of the most common uses. A competitive offer costs the brokerage real money long before the agent closes anything under your brand, and funding lets you make that offer without draining the reserve you need for operating costs.
Do lenders count my pending pipeline as revenue?
Pending contracts are treated as supporting context, not as income. Underwriting looks at the revenue that has actually landed in your business bank account over recent months. A strong pipeline helps explain a slow month and shows where the business is headed, but no responsible lender will size an offer on deals that haven't closed.
Can a property management company qualify for funding?
Yes, and if you run a property management company, your fee income is usually easier to underwrite than brokerage commissions. Your fees arrive monthly per door and stay reasonably steady, which is exactly the pattern lenders like to see. That steady base also suits revenue-based financing, where the payment moves with the fee income your portfolio produces. Most property managers we fund use it for trust accounting software, maintenance floats, staffing, and acquiring another management portfolio.
How do commission splits affect what my brokerage can borrow?
What matters is the amount the brokerage keeps, not the gross commission on the closing statement. An office on a high agent split retains far less per transaction than the sales volume suggests. Present your numbers on a net basis and expect the offer to be sized against that.
What happens if a deal falls out after I have drawn on the funding?
The repayment obligation doesn't change, which is why the structure you choose matters. With a line of credit you can draw a smaller amount and hold the rest, so a fallout costs you less in carrying payments. If your closing timing is genuinely unpredictable, borrow against the income you can count on rather than the transaction you're hoping to settle.
Other industries we fund
We know the cash-flow realities of 22 industries. If yours is not Real Estate, chances are we fund it too.
Grow your brokerage with real estate business loans
One application puts your brokerage, team, or property management company in front of a real advisor. Most brokerages have a decision back the same day they apply.