Can you BRRRR with a mortgage?

Rarely for the purchase, routinely for the refinance. Conventional mortgages require a habitable property and take 30 to 45 days, so distressed BRRRR purchases usually use cash or hard money. The refinance into a long-term mortgage is the point of the strategy.

When the property is livable and the seller is patient, a conventional investment mortgage with 20 to 25% down can work for the purchase. You pay for the rehab in cash and refinance later on the higher value. The catch is seasoning: conventional cash-out refinances generally require six months of ownership, and you pay two sets of closing costs.

Some lenders offer investor renovation loans that fund purchase and rehab in draws and convert to a long-term loan, avoiding a separate refinance. On the exit side, a 30-year conventional or DSCR mortgage at 70 to 75% of appraised value is exactly what you want.