Loan Agency in Knoxville, TN —
Private Money, Funded Direct
Approach Lending is a direct private money lender. We fund from our own balance sheet — not a broker placing your deal with someone else, and not a shop waiting on a capital partner to approve it. Chris and Flynt price your loan, approve it, and fund it themselves. 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.
- No brokers, no committee
- No tax returns or W-2s
- Terms hold to closing
- Draws funded next day
★★★★★ 30 five-star Google reviews · 300+ loans and $53M+ funded since 2021 · 65% repeat borrowers
What private money lending actually is
Short-term financing secured by the property, underwritten on the deal rather than on your income. Borrowers also search it as hard money; it's the same product.
The simple version: a bank reads your tax returns, your W-2s, and your debt-to-income ratio, then a committee signs off some weeks later. A private money lender reads the property, the numbers, and your plan for the deal, then decides. That's the whole difference, and on a property with a contract date it's the only difference that matters.
We lend on business-purpose real estate only — investment and commercial property, never an owner-occupied home. What we underwrite is the purchase price, the after-repair value, your rehab budget, and whether the numbers still work when the job is done.
- No income verification, W-2s, or tax returns — which is why self-employed investors do well here
- No full appraisal on most deals; we work from our own comps plus third-party evaluation by photos and video
- Loan sized against purchase price and ARV, not your paycheck
- The terms on your commitment letter are the terms at closing
Where credit fits
Credit matters, and we'll be straight about that rather than pretend otherwise. What we're reading is whether you generally meet your obligations — a pattern, not a threshold score. A one-time event you can explain, a medical situation or a hard year, doesn't sink a file. A sustained history of missed obligations is a different conversation, and we'd rather have it honestly on the first call than at the closing table.
Direct capital vs. broker-sourced funding
A lot of private money lenders you find online aren't lending their own cash. They're packaging your deal and shopping it somewhere else. That works right up until it doesn't.
Broker-sourced funding
- Your file goes to a capital partner or committee elsewhere
- Someone you'll never speak to can decline it
- Terms can be renegotiated at the title company
- New conditions can appear days before closing
- A lender without its own capital can simply run out of it
Approach Lending
- We lend from our own balance sheet
- Chris and Flynt approve it and fund it — same two people
- No broker in the middle, no capital partner above us
- Commitment letter terms are closing table terms
- 300+ loans and $53M+ funded since 2021
This is the whole reason the distinction is worth caring about. If your lender is waiting on someone else's approval, your commitment letter is a proposal rather than a commitment — and you find that out at the worst possible moment, when the seller has no reason to extend and your earnest money is already at risk.
One question worth asking every lender you call
Will the terms I agreed to still be the terms at the closing table? A direct lender can answer that in one word. Anyone who hesitates has told you where their money actually comes from.
How rate, points, and leverage fit together
Three numbers move together. Change one and the other two shift with it.
Points are the upfront fee, charged as a percentage of the loan. The rate is what you carry monthly, interest-only. Leverage is how much of the purchase price and after-repair value we'll fund. Our range runs 9.99% to 12.99% with 2–3 points on a 9-month term, up to 90% of purchase price and 70% of ARV, from $50,000. Those two leverage tests run separately and the lower result governs.
What moves you inside that range:
- Your track record on comparable deals — it affects your terms, not your eligibility
- The property's condition and location
- How realistic the repair budget and timeline look
- Whether your exit is a sale, a refinance, or a rental hold
- How much of your own capital is in the deal
If you hold equity in another property, cross-collateralizing it can carry total leverage as high as 100%. That's a tool institutional lenders selling on the secondary market can't offer, and it's how a lot of otherwise-dead deals get funded.
Here's what first-time borrowers most often miss: the lowest rate on paper is worth nothing if the lender can't close, and worth less than nothing if the terms move before you get there. We quote real numbers on your actual deal, and those numbers hold.
Draws: video in, funded the next day
This is where borrowers get stuck with other lenders — finish a phase, submit paperwork, wait weeks for an inspector before seeing a dollar.
Finish a phase of the work
Demo, rough electrical, plumbing, drywall — whatever the next milestone on your schedule is.
Walk it on video
No formal report, no inspection to schedule, no third party driving out to the property.
Chris or Flynt reviews it
Personally, and usually the same day. The people reviewing your draw are the people who approved your loan.
Funds go out the next business day
No invoices, no lien releases, no committee waiting to sign off. Your crew keeps working.
It matters most on Knoxville's older housing stock. Neighborhoods like Fourth and Gill and Old North Knoxville are full of pre-1940 homes where the wiring and plumbing haven't been touched in decades, and the work runs strictly in phases — electrical, then plumbing, then finish. A rehab budget that shifts once the walls come open is normal here rather than exceptional, and a draw process that stalls a crew for a month is what actually costs you the margin.
Investors on working with us
All 30 of our Google reviews are five stars.
"They lend their own money so they can be quick and nimble when funding your project."
— Peter Amrein"Working directly with decision makers is invaluable when it comes to lenders."
— David Maier"Approach is a top notch hard money lender who was able to make my deal work when my other lender couldn't."
— Matt LuffmanPrivate money loan programs
Same capital, same two decision makers, different shape of deal.
Fix & Flip
Purchase and rehab in one loan, up to 90% of purchase price and 70% of ARV, with the sale as your exit.
Private money for fix & flip →Bridge Loans
Close now and sort the long-term financing after, when capital is tied up and the deal won't wait.
Private money bridge loans →Rescue Closings
Your lender backed out days before closing. Roughly one in five loans we write is a deal somebody else was supposed to fund.
Private money rescue closings →New Construction
Single-family ground-up financing for builders who already control the lot. Tennessee only.
Private money for new construction →Commercial & Multifamily
Multifamily up to roughly 30–40 units, plus retail and commercial investment property.
Private money for commercial →Fix & Hold / BRRRR
Buy and renovate now, refinance into long-term rental debt later. DSCR takeout facilitated through our network.
Private money for buy-and-hold →Lending statewide as well — see our private money lending across Tennessee, or start from our Knoxville lending overview.
Private money lending questions
Got a deal that needs funding?
Call and talk to the people who decide. One conversation tells you whether we can fund it, what it costs, and how fast we can close.
(865) 999-8083