Fix & Hold and BRRRR Loans in Knoxville, TN —
Purchase and Rehab in One Loan
Buy it, rehab it, rent it, refinance out. We fund the first two steps in a single closing on East Tennessee investment property, from our own balance sheet — so the terms Chris and Flynt quote you are the terms you close at. Rates from 9.99%, 2–3 points, up to 90% of purchase price and 70% of ARV, from $50,000, on 9-month terms. Closings in 10–14 days.
- One closing, not two
- No tax returns or W-2s
- Draws funded next day
- DSCR exit through our network
★★★★★ 30 five-star Google reviews · 300+ loans funded since 2021 · 65% repeat borrowers
How fix & hold and BRRRR financing works
BRRRR is buy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat. Our fix & hold loan covers the first two in one closing — no juggling two loans and two sets of paperwork to get the keys and the rehab money.
Send us the deal and a rough scope
Property address or contract, your rehab budget, and what you plan to rent it for. Chris and Flynt read it themselves — there's no scoring model and no committee elsewhere deciding whether a rehab in a small Tennessee town is worth funding.
We underwrite the property, not your paperwork
Purchase price, after-repair value, your rehab budget, and your plan. No W-2s, no tax returns, no income verification, and no full appraisal on most deals.
Close on purchase and rehab together
Up to 90% of purchase price and 70% of ARV, whichever comes in lower. Cross-collateralizing equity in another property can take total leverage as high as 100%.
Draw as the work gets done
Video walkthrough of the completed phase, funded the next business day. No inspector visit, no invoices, no lien releases.
Rent it, then refinance out
Once the property is renovated and leased, you refinance into long-term rental debt and pay us off. We don't originate DSCR loans ourselves — we facilitate that exit through our referral network, and we start the conversation early.
The nine-month term is deliberate. This isn't your forever loan — it's the capital that gets the property rent-ready and stabilized so a long-term lender will take it. If permitting or a lease-up runs long and you're paying and communicating with us, extensions are generally available.
What moves your rate and leverage
Every deal is priced individually. There's no rate sheet on a wall here.
Pricing runs 9.99% to 12.99% with 2–3 points, and where you land inside that depends on four things: your credit history, the property's location, your experience as an investor, and how much leverage you're asking for. Loans start at $50,000 with no stated maximum.
On credit — it matters, and we'll be straight about that. What we're reading is whether you generally meet your obligations, not a threshold score. A one-time event you can explain, a medical bill or a hard year, won't sink a file the way it would at a bank. A sustained pattern is a different conversation.
What we don't ask for is income verification, W-2s, or two years of tax returns. That's why self-employed investors whose returns make a bank conversation go nowhere do well here. We also skip the full appraisal on most deals, working from our own comps plus third-party evaluation from photos and video, which takes weeks out of a closing.
Whether it's your first rental or your fifteenth, the process is the same. Experience affects your leverage. It doesn't decide whether we'll work with you.
Where the hold thesis actually works in East Tennessee
A BRRRR only pencils if something reliable is driving rent on the back end. Three things do that here.
Near-campus rentals around UT Knoxville
Student housing demand keeps a steady floor under rents in the neighborhoods ringing campus, and it's the most predictable rental thesis in the city. It also has its own rhythm — leasing runs on the academic calendar, so a rehab that finishes in October is chasing a market that already filled in spring. Line your renovation schedule up with the leasing season, not just with your contractor's availability.
Short-term rentals in Sevier County
Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, and Sevierville drive acquisition and short-term-rental conversion demand that conventional lenders underwrite poorly. Worth knowing before you start: a DSCR takeout on a short-term rental gets underwritten differently from a long-term lease — often on projected or trailing revenue rather than a signed lease — so talk to the refinance lender early about what documentation they'll want. That's a conversation for month one, not month eight.
Small towns other lenders won't touch
Most lenders apply an MSA population cap that auto-declines Loudon, Sevier, Jefferson, Grainger, and Union county deals. We evaluate whether there's actual demand in that market instead. A mill-era duplex in Lenoir City or a small rental portfolio in Clinton doesn't fit a big bank's box, and that's exactly the gap we fund. The zip code shouldn't be the reason your loan dies.
Knoxville's older rental stock
A large share of the rental inventory here predates 1980. That's not a problem for us — it's just part of what we're pricing.
What looks like paint and carpet in the listing photos turns into a panel swap once the contractor opens a wall. On a hold, that matters more than it does on a flip: you're not just getting the property saleable, you're getting it to a standard a tenant will live in and an insurer will cover for years.
- Knob-and-tube wiring in pre-1950 homes, needing full replacement before a tenant moves in
- Aluminum branch wiring in mid-1960s to mid-1970s builds — a distinct problem, and one insurers ask about
- Cast iron or galvanized supply runs hiding under original hardwood
- Crawlspace and foundation work on homes built without modern drainage
- Roof and HVAC original to the house and past their service life
Budget against the house you bought, not the one in the photos. Get a contractor through it before you finalize the offer, and carry a real contingency — because the rehab number feeds both the loan-to-cost and the ARV test, a budget that moves after closing moves your financing with it.
None of that changes your terms once you're funded. The commitment letter matches what shows up at closing, and it matches what you draw against during the rehab.
Draws: video in, funded next day
Rehab money is released in stages tied to completed work. How painful that process is will affect your project more than a quarter point on the rate.
What a draw usually involves
- Itemized invoices for the completed phase
- Signed lien releases from every trade
- A third-party inspector scheduled to the property
- Three to five business days of waiting, longer in the busy season
- Crews idle, or moved to another job, while the check clears
What a draw involves with us
- Walk the finished work on video
- Send it to Chris or Flynt
- Reviewed, usually same day
- Funded the next business day
- No inspector, no invoices, no lien releases
One thing that catches first-time hold investors: draws are staged, not lump sum. People budget the purchase and the rehab total correctly and then get surprised that the money arrives in pieces behind completed work. Older Knoxville rehabs get done trade by trade rather than by some flat percentage-complete number, so sequence your trades in advance and the draws keep pace with the crew.
Plan the refinance before you close on the purchase
This is where fix & hold deals stall — not on the rehab, on the back half nobody mapped.
We fund the purchase and the renovation. The long-term rental loan that takes us out is not something we originate — we facilitate it through our referral network, and we'd rather start that conversation in month one than month eight. A nine-month clock is comfortable when the exit is planned and very uncomfortable when it isn't.
- Talk to the refinance lender before the rehab is done, so you know what rent-to-debt coverage you need to hit and can adjust the scope while you still can.
- Keep the renovation on the scope you outlined at closing. Changes affect the appraisal the refinance lender orders later.
- Track rehab costs and draws carefully. The refinance underwriter will want that documentation, and reconstructing it after the fact is miserable.
- Ask about seasoning up front. Some lenders want several months of ownership before they'll refinance at the new value rather than your purchase price — that single requirement can decide whether your capital comes back out on schedule.
- Get the property actually leased. A signed lease is usually what turns a projected coverage ratio into an approved one.
To be clear about what we do and don't do
Approach Lending originates the fix & hold loan — the purchase and rehab capital. We do not originate DSCR or long-term rental loans. We introduce you to lenders in our network who do. Anyone telling you a single company handles both halves is describing a different business than ours.
When fix & hold is the wrong tool
We'll say so on the first call, even when it costs us the deal.
- You're actually selling, not holding. If the plan is buy, renovate, and list, that's a fix & flip loan — same capital, different exit, and no refinance to plan for.
- The rents don't cover the eventual debt. If the stabilized rent won't support a long-term loan on the refinanced balance, the exit doesn't exist and the rehab won't create it.
- You have no refinance path. Not "I'll figure it out" — an actual lender conversation. Without it, a nine-month term is a countdown rather than a bridge.
- It's your primary residence. We're a business-purpose lender. Owner-occupied isn't something we do.
- Land, mobile home parks, or RV parks. Hard exclusions, no exceptions.
None of that means you're stuck. Usually it means the product or the timing needs to shift, and one conversation sorts out which.
Investors on working with us
All 30 of our Google reviews are five stars.
"I've done several deals with Christopher Davis at Approach Lending, and I will say that they are reputable, professional, and easy to work with."
— Kevin Dyke"They lend their own money so they can be quick and nimble when funding your project."
— Peter Amrein"Local expertise and willingness to problem solve set them apart."
— Brennan LiuFix & hold and BRRRR questions
Got a rental deal you want to hold?
Call and talk to the people who decide. One conversation tells you whether we can fund it, what it costs, and what your refinance exit needs to look like.
(865) 999-8083