How We Research
How We Research Investor Financing
Source-cited lender terms, payout-blind ordering, and a strict business-purpose-only scope — no rate promises, no advice.
Payout-Blind Ordering
Listings sort by published terms — never by commission or clicks.
Source-Cited
Every figure traces to a lender disclosure, statute, or dataset, and is dated.
Business-Purpose Only
Investor and commercial lending — no consumer-mortgage advice, ever.
Scope: Business-Purpose Lending Only
Plain English up front: Keystone Rate researches business-purpose real-estate financing — DSCR loans, fix-and-flip and bridge loans, hard money, rental-portfolio facilities, commercial mortgages, construction and land loans. We do not cover owner-occupied consumer mortgages, and nothing on this site is consumer-mortgage advice.
The distinction is legal, not cosmetic. Consumer mortgages sit under TILA/RESPA disclosure rules, ability-to-repay requirements, and SAFE Act loan-originator licensing; business-purpose credit is expressly excluded from most of that regime (12 CFR § 1026.3(a) and the accompanying Regulation Z commentary). We are a research publisher — not a lender, broker, or licensed originator — and every page here stays on the business-purpose side of that line.
How We Research
Every page is built from primary sources: lender rate sheets and program matrices, published guidelines, state licensing records, county-level market data, and regulatory texts. We do not originate, broker, or personally apply for these loans, and we say plainly what we could and could not independently verify.
What We Record About Each Lender
For every lender or marketplace we track, we record only objective published terms:
| Field | What It Is |
|---|---|
| Advertised rate range | The lender's own published floor and ceiling, dated |
| Loan size | Published minimum and maximum loan amounts |
| Minimum credit score | The published floor, if the lender discloses one |
| Term | Published term or amortization range |
| Fees | Origination points and notable fees, as disclosed |
| State coverage | Where the lender does not lend |
How Listings Are Ordered
Lender listings are ordered by published terms only: lowest advertised rate first, and lenders that publish no rate sort last, alphabetically. Compensation never enters the sort — not commission size, not click history, not any internal priority score. Compensated partners are labeled as such in the listing itself.
No Rate Promises
Published ranges are what lenders advertise, not what you will be quoted. Investor-loan pricing moves with the deal — leverage, DSCR, asset class, experience, market — and it moves weekly. We date our numbers, link their sources, and never present a range as a promise.
Our Research Process
- Source research — lender documentation, program guidelines, and current published terms.
- Terms verification — every figure checked against the lender's own current disclosures and dated.
- Comparative analysis — each lender or structure lined up against direct alternatives on identical criteria.
- Editorial review — a second editor checks every claim against its source before publication.
Editorial Independence
Keystone Rate earns referral commissions when readers connect with some partner lenders through our links. That funds the research; it never changes what we publish or the order in which lenders appear. Lenders do not get review approval, and there are no sponsored placements or pay-to-rank inclusions.
How Often We Update
Lender terms are re-verified on a set schedule and whenever a lender publishes a material change. The "Last Updated" date on each page reflects the most recent verification pass. Corrections are dated and left visible.
Contact the Desk
If you believe a page contains an error or outdated terms, please contact us.