The best banks for real estate investors are the ones that provide excellent business bank accounts with low fees and suitable real estate features along with commercial real estate (CRE) lending.
Best Banks for Real Estate Investors should also offer other business-related support services and high-feature products such as property management and rent collection through a banking platform. Generally, banks with few lending offerings should have benefits to help landlords and real estate investors.
What should real estate investors look for in a bank account?
There are over 4,000 FDIC-insured commercial banks in the United States. But each bank is unique with it’s features and compatibility for real estate investors.
As a propery investor, here are some of the things you should consider while choosing a bank for their investment property:
- Fees and minimum balances. The ideal banks allow you to establish accounts free of charge and without monthly maintenance or minimum payments. Some banks may offer multiple checking and savings accounts without incurring account fees or requiring minimum balances.
- Divergence of funds. In a real estate business, tracking the source of funds and ensuring their appropriate use is crucial. Multiple checking accounts help to distinguish and separate funds to prevent misallocation.
- Convenient money transfer. Efficiently transferring money in and out of or between accounts, such as through ACH payments, wires, and check deposits, is essential for running a successful real estate business, and it should be done at minimal costs.
- Debit and Credit Cards. To cover the high expenses of home improvement and maintenance, it’s advisable for real estate investors to have multiple debit or credit cards.
- Financing options. The top banks for real estate investing should offer loans with attractive terms and interest rates.
- Customer service. A great real estate bank should provide top-notch customer service. They should be easy to reach, with multiple communication channels available and helpful representatives. Additionally, opening an account with such a bank should be a straightforward process.
BeBraveBanking has selected 11 best banks for real estate investors with all the necessary information:
- Bank of America: Best business checking and support
- JP Morgan Chase: Best for CRE loans and credit cards
- Baselane: Best for real estate investor banking solution
- Stessa: Best for a property management platform
- Axos Bank: Best online-only real estate banking services
- Bluevine: Best small business line of credit with interest-earning checking
- U.S. Bank: Best for long-term owner-occupied CRE loans
- LendingClub Bank: Best for Flexible CRE financing
- First Internet Bank: Best digital-only bank with full-service business lending
- Wells Fargo: Best for CRE loans for multifamily properties
- CitiBusiness Bank: Best for Real estate operations.
Some Financial technology (fintech) platforms have support from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC) through a bank partnership. Baselane and Stessa are backed by Blue Ridge Bank, N.A., while Bluevine is backed by Coastal Community Bank.
Best Banks for Real Estate Investors
Bank of America
Bank of America is an exceptional choice for real estate investors looking for excellent business checking, high featured business support products and various commercial real estate loan products.
The bank is our top pick for real estate investors since it is a leading provider of small business loans and the best small business checking accounts. Bank of America provides two business checking options with waivable monthly fees. The basic business checking option, Business Advantage Fundamentals Banking, allows you up to 200 transactions without fees and up to $7,500 cash deposits per month. The monthly fee is $16, but it can be easily waived.
Bank of America offers CRE loans, credit lines, and term and SBA loans for real estate investors. If you have a business checking account with Bank of America, you will be provided with excellent business credit cards and offers your Dun & Bradstreet credit score for free.
Bank of America is the best bank for real estate investors because it has the best interest rate discounts on loans and is a perfect fit for mature businesses with a lot of cash flow.
If your real estate business qualifies with a $20,000 minimum steep, then you’ll gain access to a range of rate reductions and savings that continue accumulating the more you work with Bank of America.
JP Morgan Chase
Chase is a top choice for real estate investors due to its excellent small business checking account, supportive business products, and strong lending options.
Bank of America offers a better basic checking product and the ability to view your business credit score via its checking app, giving it a slight advantage over Chase.
Chase provides three waivable monthly fee business checking accounts, each with unique features and requirements.
The Business Complete Banking account, which is Chase’s basic checking account, offers 20 free transactions and $5,000 in free cash deposits monthly. A $300 bonus is available for new account holders who meet requirements.
Chase provides real estate investors with a wide range of lending options, including business and commercial lines of credit, term and draw loans, advised lines, CRE financing, and SBA loans. It also has a great selection of business credit cards.
Chase offers merchant and collection services, software integrations, fraud protection, and additional perks to its business customers. These features make Chase one of the best banks for small businesses.
Baseline
Baselane is an all-in-one digital banking and financial platform solution for landlords and real estate investors that provides a comprehensive solution for running a rental property business. Open a new account and receive a $150 bonus, increasing to $300 in January with funding and rent collection.
Baselane offers a bank account with a 1% cash-back debit card and categorizes expenses for better rental property accounting. It also features a powerful rent collection app, allowing residents to pay online with various methods and directly to your bank account.
For real estate financing, Baselane partners with Lendency to provide flexible loans for single and multifamily properties, portfolio loans, and more. It also offers landlord insurance through partner Obie.
With its digital-only banking solution, Baselane offers business checking with no fees, a 3.3% APY on deposits, and free ATM withdrawals at over 55,000 Allpoint ATMs. It provides unlimited virtual accounts and virtual cards for improved expense tracking and integrates with a free online rent collection system, bookkeeping software, and analytics software.
In the future, Baselane will add an AI-powered mortgage and insurance marketplace, tenant screening, and a messaging platform for chatting and file exchanges with tenants. To qualify, a FICO score of 680 or higher is required. Baselane is a top option for landlords and real estate investors, competing with traditional banks such as Bank of America and Chase.
Stessa
Stessa is a valuable option for real estate investors, as it offers a built-in cash management system and online rent collection product, even though it does not provide lending products.
Stessa’s business banking product features limited fees, with only a $5 fee applied to outgoing domestic wires. Additionally, the bank account offered by Stessa earns a high APY of 3.85% and cash back of 1.1% on debit card purchases.
When utilizing Stessa’s Cash Management product, real estate investors can set up an unlimited number of free business bank accounts, each for a separate rental property if desired.
No fees are charged for monthly maintenance, inbound wire transfers, or minimum balance on Stessa bank accounts.
Stessa’s rental property software is accessible from any location, enables collaboration with others, and organizes essential real estate documents.
The software also automates income and expense tracking, provides the ability to run unlimited monthly reports, and exports tax-ready financial documents.
While Stessa’s basic service is free, paid premium services include mortgage financing and market research. Instant online mortgage quotes and landlord insurance quotes from Obie are accessible within your Stessa account.
Stessa is a digital-only cash management system that offers real estate investors the advantage of no monthly fees, minimum balance requirements, or transaction limits.
Axos Bank
Axos Bank is a leading provider of financing options for mortgage brokers and CRE investors.
They offer financial support for various rental property investments, including multifamily, two- to four-unit properties, mixed-use buildings, mobile home parks, commercial properties, student housing, and non-resident alien properties.
As a seasoned advisor to 1031 Exchange Qualified Intermediary firms, Axos provides rapid reverse 1031 lending to acquire replacement properties.
There are no additional costs for their qualified escrow and trust agreements.
Axos is a nationwide lender for HOAs, offering flexible loan structures with terms ranging from three to 20 years and non-revolving construction lines of credit from three to 24 months without personal guarantees.
Axos Commercial Property Banking also provides treasury management services, allowing you to offer residents digital and paper payment options, offset fees with a competitive earnings credit rate, streamline cash flow with receivables management tools, and manage all finances through a single online dashboard.
Bluevine
Bluevine is ideal for real estate investors, despite not offering a full range of lending products, due to its excellent business checking account and the best small business line of credit available.
Its checking account provides a 2.0% APY on balances of $100,000 or less, allowing real estate investors to earn interest on funds from a sold property while they prepare for their next investment.
In addition to its checking product, Bluevine offers a business line of credit of up to $250,000 with rates as low as 6.2%. Repayments for draws on the line of credit can be made over 6- or 12-month terms, and interest is only charged on the amount used.
Bluevine has seamless integrations with QuickBooks and Xero and popular business payment solutions such as Stripe, PayPal, and Expensify.
Please note that Bluevine operates entirely online and has no physical branches. Visit their website for more information on opening an account.
U.S. Bank
U.S. Bank is an ideal choice for real estate investors, but it has limited accessibility in certain states. Your business must be based in one of the 26 states specified to open an account.
However, U.S. Bank is a fantastic option if your business falls within this scope. It provides a top-notch business checking product known as Silver Business Checking with no monthly fees.
This account comes with 125 free transactions and 25 free cash deposit transactions per cycle. U.S. Bank has a wide variety of business loan options, including traditional business and commercial real estate loans and financing for healthcare practices and McDonald’s franchises.
U.S. Bank offers business credit cards including Triple Cash Rewards World Elite Mastercard® and Business Leverage® Visa Signature® Card.
U.S. Bank is an excellent choice for long-term commercial real estate loans, with loan terms of up to 25 years and SBA loans of up to $12.375 million.
In addition to loans, U.S. Bank offers payment processing, check fraud protection, and cash management services for its customers’ convenience.
LendingClub Bank
LendingClub Bank offers flexible financing solutions for rental property owners seeking commercial real estate loans.
They provide loans for property acquisition, refinancing, and construction, focusing on various asset types such as office buildings, industrial and warehouse facilities, multifamily properties, medical centers, and retail spaces. The average loan size is up to $10 million and larger loans can be syndicated.
Once you own a rental property, take advantage of LendingClub’s online business banking services, including a Tailored Checking account that offers 1% cash back on qualified purchases made with its debit card. This account has no monthly maintenance fees for balances over $500 and can be easily synced with accounting tools like Mint, QuickBooks, or Quicken.
The LendingClub Bank Tailored Checking account is free of monthly fees if the average balance in your account is $500 or more. If your balance consistently falls below this amount, LendingClub will impose a $10 monthly fee.
LendingClub also allows you to accept various forms of payment from tenants, including ACH, card payments, and wire transfers and offers bill pay services to pay contractors and property managers.
First Internet Bank
If you are looking for a digital-only bank for real estate investors, First Internet Bank is a perfect option considering its available business lending products.
First, internet banking has two features most suitable for real estate investors: interest-earning business checking accounts and several business loan options.
Their business checking account that does not have any maintenance fees and real estate investors get to earn APY 0.50% if they have deposited balances of $10,000 or above. Moreover, there are no monthly fees or transaction limits and it reimburses up to $10 in ATM fees each month.
First Internet Bank provides a range of loan products for real estate investors, including SBA loans, commercial real estate lending, public finance, and term loans.
Investors can access lines of credit starting at $100,000 and SBA loans up to $5 million.
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo offers a strong solution for investors seeking a bank that specializes in providing commercial real estate loans for multifamily properties and has a superior business checking account.
Wells Fargo is a viable choice for those looking for a bank that offers commercial real estate loans for multifamily properties and a top-notch business checking account.
The Mortgage Bankers Association recognized Wells Fargo as the leading commercial and multifamily mortgage loan lender in 2021.
With SBA loans up to $11.5 million and terms of up to 25 years, Wells Fargo is among the country’s top ten SBA 7(a) lenders. These loans, backed partially by the U.S. Small Business Administration, are aimed at small businesses and are issued by private lenders.
In addition to SBA 7(a) loans, Wells Fargo offers SBA Express and SBA CDC/504 loans. The interest rates begin at prime plus 1.75%, but can vary depending on the type of loan.
The bank offers longer repayment terms which translate to lower monthly and down payments, making upfront costs more manageable. Repayment lengths range from seven to 25 years.
Additionally, Wells Fargo provides access to lines of credit, conventional commercial real estate financing, and business credit cards. The minimum amount for commercial real estate loans is $50,000.
You can secure a Commercial Real Estate Equity Loan, which enables you to borrow against your equity, or a Commercial Equity Line of Credit for financing your business activities on an ongoing basis.
CitiBusiness Bank
Citi offers a range of features to landlords, including mobile check deposit, reward business cards, online banking tools, bill pay, cash management services, and the ability to accept different payment methods (debit, credit, checks, tap-and-pay, etc.).
Citi offers excellent features for landlords and property managers, including:
- Citi offers a CitiBusiness Streamlined Checking Account for collecting, processing, and depositing rent payments. This account makes it convenient to deposit rent into a separate business operating account, and users can view their finances online anytime.
- Paying building expenses and purchasing building equipment
- Citi offers a business credit card with spending limit controls and the ability to view detailed spending reports for budget management.
- Controlling tenant sub-accounts
- Creating an account just for security deposits, making tax time simpler
Citi offers multiple businesses checking accounts for real estate investors based on their size and banking needs, including Streamlined Checking, Flexible Checking, Analyzed Checking and Interest Checking.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Which bank is best for real estate investors?
According to BeBraveBanking, Bank of America is the best bank for real estate investors, especially because of their impressive business checking offers to provide Dun & Bradstreet business credit scores for free and outstanding commercial lending options.
What documents do real estate investors need to open a business bank account?
In general, real estate investors would require the following documents to open a bank account:
- Company ownership agreements
- Government-issued photo I.D., Passport or driver’s license
- Business licenses
- Business formation documents
- Business name certificate or doing-business-as (DBA) certificate
- Employer identification number or Social Security number.
How to Evaluate the Best Banks for Real Estate Investors?
Here are the things you should consider when evaluating the best banks for real estate investors:
- The opening deposit and balance minimums
- Fees for ACH and wire transfers
- The number of transactions before fees are imposed
- Loan interest rates and maximum terms
- The number of loan options offered
- Years in business and minimum revenue requirements
- Availability of other business services
- Availability and fees for cash deposits
- Availability and fees for ATMs
- Loan qualifications required
- Bank accessibility
- The presence of monthly fees and ease of waiver
- Loan sizes available
- Customer feedback and ratings.
- Interest yield, if available
- Integration with software systems
What kind of bank account should I open for real estate?
The main things to look for when you are planning to open a bank account for real estate are interest earning and fees limit. Interest-earning checking accounts like Bluevine can be more suitable for real estate investors because of their no monthly transaction limit.
Which bank is best for real estate loans?
Bank of America is the best bank for real estate loans offering loans starting at $25000. along with lines of credit, term loans, commercial real estate loans, and SBA loans.
Should real estate investors separate personal and business finances?
Rental property owners should have a separate business bank account for better tracking of income and expenses and to simplify tax season. This helps in separating personal and business funds and makes it easier to find business-related transactions. Services like Baselane and Stessa can help with this.
Which banks offer rental property accounting software?
Baselane and Stessa both offer rental property accounting software. Baselane platform has features for YTD revenue, YTD expenses,ec. Stessa focuses more on real estate document organization, income and expenses tracking, custom reports for capital expenses, cash flow, and more.
Bottom Line
When looking at best banks for real estate investmentors, it is important to look for excellent business checking and top-notch commercial real estate lending services.
In this guide, almost all the providers offer both services, with the exception of Stessa who is included due to its strong online rent collection and cash management products.
To make the best choice, the real estate investor should determine their most crucial banking needs for their real estate business and select the bank that fits those requirements.