Financing the dirt, before there is anything on it.

Land & Lot Loans, step by step.

1. The category picks the lender, not the other way around. Raw unentitled land, entitled infill lots, land banking, recreational acreage, and working farmland are five separate markets with five separate sets of lenders. Sending a rural 40-acre parcel to an infill lot lender wastes everyone's week. Tell us what the ground is and what you intend to do with it, and we start in the right place.
2. Expect real money down. Land advance rates commonly run 35% to 65% of value, so a 40% to 60% down payment is normal rather than a lowball. Entitled land and finished lots price at the top of that band; raw, unentitled, or purely speculative ground prices at the bottom, and some lenders will not touch it at any leverage. A handful of land banking programs reach higher for builders with a takedown schedule.
3. Plan for a short, interest-only term. Most land paper runs 12 to 36 months, interest only, with a balloon. It is bridge capital by design. It is not a place to sit indefinitely, and pricing assumes you will not.
4. The exit is underwritten before the purchase. Build it, sell it, or refinance into a construction loan. Whichever it is, the lender wants the plan, the timeline, and evidence you can execute it. A vague exit is the single most common reason a land file dies.
5. Entitlements move the number more than anything else. Zoning approvals, a recorded plat, and utilities to the property line can swing both the advance rate and the lender list dramatically. If entitlements are in process, say so, the timing changes which structure fits.

One caution worth repeating: when a bridge lender advertises “up to 75% LTV,” that figure almost never applies to land. It is the number for their income-producing book. We quote land off written land terms only, which is why our first answer on a land scenario is a question rather than a rate.

Built for these borrowers.

• Builders acquiring entitled lots, or land banking them ahead of a build cycle
• Investors buying infill residential lots inside or near a major metro
• Developers funding horizontal work, grading, utilities, and streets, ahead of vertical construction
• Buyers of rural or recreational acreage, where lot size and use drive the program
• Farm and ranch buyers financing working agricultural ground

Documents to gather.

• Purchase contract
• Survey and legal description
• Zoning and entitlement status, including any approvals in process
• Preliminary title report
• Site plan, plat, or engineering, where the parcel is entitled
• Utility availability, or the cost estimate to bring them in
• Environmental report, where the lender or the prior use requires one
• Written exit plan with a timeline
• Entity documents and EIN letter
• Tax returns and a current balance sheet, for agricultural programs