There are as many investment needs out there as there are investors. Each person has his own financial goals and his own risk tolerance. In many cases, traditional lending institutions do not recognize these needs and try to cram an investor into one of their prepackaged deals or worse yet, will not even consider lending funds on a particular project. When this happens, the experienced investor looks to other sources of capital – typically “hard money.” Here's why:

Hard money and private money are frequently used interchangeably as a way to refer to alternate financing for real estate purchases. However, they aren't always the same. Some private money gets made on loans that look and act like traditional financing, while a hard money definition should include non-private funds.