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Unlock Hidden Capital: Creative Funding Strategies for Real Estate Investors

By December 18, 2025Real Estate Pros Show

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Show Summary

In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Michelle Kesil speaks with Nick DiFederico of MB Capital Solutions about the importance of access to capital for real estate investors. They discuss various funding strategies, including unsecured business funding and creative financing options like 0% credit cards. Nick shares insights on the challenges investors face, the significance of separating personal and business credit, and the importance of building relationships in the industry. The conversation emphasizes the need for financial literacy and strategic planning in real estate investing.

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    Nick DiFederico (00:00)
    So the 0 % credit cards is very creative, right? A lot of clients don’t even know you can use a credit card to go purchase the property.You know, me personally, my last property that I bought in Philadelphia, I used three business credit cards to buy it outright completely. Right? I didn’t need a hard money lender. I didn’t use cash. I actually used a physical credit card to go purchase that property. And again, the benefit of having it at 0 % interest for at least a year is a game changer.Michelle Kesil (01:59)
    Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Nick DiFederico, who is of MB Capital Solutions, specializing in helping people get

    to capital. So, excited to have you here today, Nick.

    Nick DiFederico (02:20)
    I appreciate you having me. I’m excited to talk with you and maybe shed some value on your audience.

    Michelle Kesil (02:27)
    Yeah, definitely. think the listeners will take something away from how you’re helping investors get access to more cash. So let’s dive in.

    Nick DiFederico (02:37)
    Yeah, so how we’re helping clients is really building up business capital, especially the real estate investor. 90 plus percent of our clients are real estate investors all across the country. Whether you’re doing fix and flips or buying holds, whether you’re wholesaling, we all need access to cash. So we’re a big believer in building what we call your funding toolbox.

    So we all know about private money and hard money, but there’s also other ways to be able to build up access to cash, to be able to use with all those other tools, to not miss out on opportunities. At the end of the day, we specialize in unsecured business funding, which essentially is leveraging the strength of our personal credit profile to go get money in the business name that we can use for whatever we want. So especially for our real estate investors.

    Maybe you’re under contract on a property, hard money lenders giving you 80 % of the purchase price and all the rehab money. Well, we can help you access the 20 % down payment plus closing costs without necessarily having to use your own cash. So building up liquidity in the business name that we can use for whatever we want, especially if we’re out there doing deals and we’re using up our cash quick or if we’re in the middle of a deal and we find another opportunity, there’s always ways for us to kind of build up capital so that you don’t miss out on those.

    Michelle Kesil (03:53)
    Yeah, absolutely. And what markets do you operate in?

    Nick DiFederico (03:58)
    We’re nationwide. I’m located in Pennsylvania. Our main office is in South Jersey. But we’re really plugged in with a lot of the education companies. lot of your Instagram gurus are out there doing real estate education. We work with a lot of those programs in those communities. So it doesn’t matter where you’re located. ⁓ We work nationwide.

    Michelle Kesil (04:22)
    Awesome. So what do you feel are some of the main keys that have made the biggest difference in allowing your business to be able to run smoothly?

    Nick DiFederico (04:35)
    You know, so we’re lucky to have a nice pool of clients all across the country, which means that we get to work with, you know, banks nationwide. Right at the end of the day, we’re not lending our own money. You know, we’re working with banks, community banks, large institutional lenders nationwide. So by working with the amount of clients that we’re working with, the one strength that we have is knowing the data and the trends of the lenders. Right. That’s always evolving. You know, things kind of switch on a monthly basis.

    So we can kind of see what the average approval amount

    amounts are in an area, what banks and lenders are really looking at to be able to approve your for capital. And we monitor all that, right? Like we have a really robust CRM where, you know, every application, you know, gets into a report so we can see what lenders are approving, what their average approval amounts are. This way, when we meet a client, ⁓ we kind of already know how we’re going to be able to help them once we put eyes on credit and see how they’re positioned. And it’s really just being on the forefront of that, you know, knowing where the market’s going.

    seeing trends of what other people are doing and the funds that are being acquired. More importantly, showing clients how we can go get it for them. ⁓

    And then on the back end, it’s helping clients. At the end of the day, we’ve been around

    16 years now, because not only do we help clients get access to capital, more importantly, we show them how to go use it on their deal specifically. I’m a real estate investor. I do buy and hold rentals in the Philadelphia market. My business partner is a real estate investor. So not only do we kind of practice what we preach, but we’re living it too. know what I mean? So that’s a nice way for us to connect with our clients, because we see the things that they’re dealing with.

    and we’re going through it as well.

    Michelle Kesil (07:05)
    Yeah, definitely. And what are some of the main obstacles that you see that your clients face that you support them with?

    Nick DiFederico (07:13)
    It’s really, you know, in this day and age, everybody’s leveraging credit in some way.

    So clients may come to us where we need to reposition credit. know, it’s not, you know, when you come and you meet with us, it’s not, you’re approved for X amount or you’re denied. It’s, hey, you’re approved for this amount. Or if we need to kind of change credit around and give you guidance on how to manipulate your credit to get you in a position for funding, we’re going to show you that. So the biggest thing is people leverage their personal credit. And listen, I’ve done it. I think we’ve all done it at certain times. But the idea, especially as a real estate investor,

    as an entrepreneur is really to separate out personal and business credit and capital. This way you can let the business kind of run on its own and not have to worry about it impacting you personally. So that’s the biggest thing in helping clients where maybe they’re not ready for funding right now, but we’re gonna give them the game plan so that they can get in that position so that we can acquire capital for you.

    Michelle Kesil (08:12)
    Yeah, absolutely. What type of financing solutions do you typically offer for your clients?

    Nick DiFederico (08:19)
    So we specialize in unsecured funding, which again just means that we’re not collateralizing it with a property or an asset.

    But it kind of operates the same as a HELOC, right? You know, a HELOC is you’re approved for a certain dollar amount, comes with a checkbook. You can write a check and go put it to use for whatever you want. Same type of that we’re implementing for clients. The only difference is, again, you’re not leveraging the property or an asset. Lenders are looking at strength of personal credit. They’re looking at the age of our business. And they’re giving us access to capital based off of that.

    So that’s a great product, checkbook line of credit. But over the last nine years, we’ve been doing a lot of the strategic 0 % credit card plans as well. Most people don’t know that you can leverage business credit cards not only to buy materials and do rehabs, pay contractors, but then to also purchase the property itself.

    You can use a business credit card to actually use as the down payment money or depending on the purchase price, ⁓ buy a property outright completely. And the real benefit there for a lot of investors is you can do so at 0 % interest. For us in the real estate game, if you have 0 % money for 12 months, it can be a game changer. Because within 12 months, typically, we’re either flipping that property or if we’re holding it, we’re hitting our refinance event.

    which allows us to get our money back to be able to pay back the credit cards and essentially just go recycle that on the next deal. So a lot of what we’re doing is the business credit, the business lines of credit, strategic 0 % credit cards, ways to build up cash in the business name to go out there and do deals.

    Michelle Kesil (09:57)
    Yeah, amazing. Is there any sort of criteria that your clients must have to work with you?

    Nick DiFederico (10:41)
    So I don’t want say that it’s a specific criteria. I mean, we’re going to talk and meet with pretty much anybody who’s interested. ⁓ To acquire funding, personal credit needs to be in that 700 range. That being said, if we meet with you and you’re not there yet, if we need tweaks to credit.

    we have the resources and the game plan to show you exactly what you need to do to get in position. And then obviously having a business set up, right? You know, can’t build business capital unless we have the business. So if we’re out there and we’re getting in, you know, getting started to invest in real estate or just starting and we don’t have an LLC set up or an S-corp or an actual business, we definitely want to get that set up. So we’ll kind of look at all of those when we meet with a client.

    Michelle Kesil (11:27)
    And what are you most focused on solving or scaling to next in your business?

    Nick DiFederico (11:35)
    For our business, it’s always relationships.

    right? You know, I’m always looking for great relationships with banks and lenders to be able to bring our clients to. And then I like working with a lot of the education communities, you know, so your Instagram gurus, or if you’re learning where to invest in real estate or get that education before you get out there. I like being on the forefront of, you know, an investor’s journey, showing them how to properly start to build capital in the business name, how to be able to look at opportunities and knowing what they have and

    you know, that funding toolbox, as I like to call it, so that they don’t miss out on deals. You know, I see clients

    the time that can find opportunity, right? You know, they can get a property under contract, they see the opportunity, but they don’t have the liquidity behind them to actually pull the trigger. So that’s what I love doing. I love helping new investors start to build up capital the right way so that they can get out there, find deals, and you know, more importantly, what we’re all doing, trying to make money, you know? At the end of the day, we’re out there, we’re investing in real estate to build that.

    that portfolio to leave wealth to our kids and to pay our bills along the way. So every opportunity we can help you go out there and acquire, it’s just more money in your pocket. So we love working with the investor.

    Michelle Kesil (12:53)
    Yeah. Are there any sort of like creative strategies that you are working with?

    Nick DiFederico (13:00)
    So the 0 % credit cards is very creative, right? A lot of clients don’t even know you can use a credit card to go purchase the property.

    You know, me personally, my last property that I bought in Philadelphia, I used three business credit cards to buy it outright completely. Right? I didn’t need a hard money lender. I didn’t use cash. I actually used a physical credit card to go purchase that property. And again, the benefit of having it at 0 % interest for at least a year is a game changer.

    I mean, I’m just putting money in my pocket by not paying, you know, private money rates or hard money rates. So the 0 % credit card’s super creative. You know, I have a lot of clients that are getting into

    their deals 100 % leveraging, right? You you use a hard money lender that’s going to give you a good portion of the purchase price and the rehab, and then we fill in the gaps with the 0 % credit card money. Well, now we’re 100 % funding a deal and not actually having to use any of our own cash, which is a big benefit for real estate investors, you know, because at the end of the day, the more we can leverage, the more more put in our pocket, the more deals we’re able to find. And typically those who use cash first start to then leverage personal credit and then may put

    them in a position where we can’t acquire business capital. So the 0 % credit cards, leveraging the business money to be able to get out there and 100 % fund your deals and not have to use cash is an unbelievable strategy right now.

    Michelle Kesil (14:23)
    Yeah, absolutely. So what are some of your goals you have for where

    want your business to head to?

    Nick DiFederico (14:32)
    So it’s always about how many people we’re helping.

    You know, this past year, we got a couple weeks left of the year as of the recording of this, but we have helped close to 600 clients this year. So we’re always trying to grow that number. The idea next year is hopefully we figure out a way to hit 1,000 and help 1,000 clients acquire a couple hundred grand in their business to be able to go out there and do deals. So it’s all about the number of people we can help. So the goal this year was to hit 600. I think we’re going to hit it by the end of the

    so fingers crossed.

    But the goal next year is really to keep leveraging the relationships that we’ve built in the business and in the communities, really to help more investors go out there and do what they’re looking to do.

    Michelle Kesil (16:00)
    Yeah, definitely. So you mentioned relationship building. Is there a specific networking strategy that you use to foster these relationships?

    Nick DiFederico (16:13)
    ⁓ nothing specific, I mean I-

    I’ve learned that just being authentic is key, right? You know, just be yourself. People will like you for who you are. But then really find out what it is that, you who you’re talking to needs. You know, if you can solve what, you know, people are looking for and create value, you’re going to have people come in your way no matter what. So it’s all about really developing that relationship. Not looking at it as, you know, what’s in it for me, but how can I help this person? Because, you know, that comes back to you tenfold.

    I’m a big believer in paying it forward and it’ll always come back to you. So if you can just look to see how you can help as many people as possible, ⁓ the business is going to come back to you. So when I’m going into a networking event or starting to look to build a relationship with a new referral source, it’s all about who are you working with, what are their problems. More importantly, do I have a way to solve it? Because as long as I’m solving problems, I know people are going to keep getting on my calendar.

    Michelle Kesil (17:18)
    Yes, definitely. Are there any challenges or obstacles that many of your clients have that maybe aren’t as like, maybe aren’t things that they realize until you are able to support them with it?

    Nick DiFederico (17:39)
    Yeah, mean, the biggest thing is I see a lot of clients that will leverage their personal credit. ⁓ They’ll use personal credit cards to do rehabs, especially our buy and hold investors. Yes, you can do a DSCR loan on the back end.

    But if you’re heavily using your credit, it’s going to affect our terms, our rates. So I do see a lot of clients that will get into a deal and not necessarily know their full exit strategy or plan for their exit strategy. know, so when you’re reviewing your deal, listen, it’s you got to run your numbers on the purchase. Yes. But then you also need to plan for the exit. ⁓ You know, if it’s a flip, it’s easy, right? You know, even if you are using personal credit, you just got to get that property fixed up and back on the market and wait for it sell to have funds come back.

    You know, that’s as long as you’re running your numbers and you’re making profit could do that all day long But I see a lot of clients that will run into the issue of the back end where hey I really wanted to hold this property long term I wanted it to be part of my rental portfolio moving forward and they get to that point where they’re gonna need to refinance it and they’re not positioned well to be able to do a refinance where the numbers may not match so While you’re out there and you’re looking at your deals. Yes Do your due diligence on the purchase price and the rehab costs and what the ARV?

    is going to be, but then really know your exit strategy. How are you going to get out of that deal? Because I see all the time where clients really want to hold a property and rent it out and hold it for long-term wealth, but it just doesn’t make sense financially on the back end, so they do have to flip the property. So if the goal is to hold something, make sure you know what your exit strategy is and that you’ve planned for it. And then more importantly, what’s the box look like when I do my refinance? What’s credit need to look like? This way you know where to keep it at.

    Michelle Kesil (19:25)
    Yeah, absolutely. And when people use these systems of credit, like is there any challenges in paying them back later that you find your clients struggle with?

    Nick DiFederico (19:38)
    Not really. You know, again, you know, for what we’re using it for, we’re getting into a deal where we are running our numbers, right? So we should know, all right, if I’m using X amount of dollars on the purchase and the acquisition and the rehab, you know, when I sell the property, I should know that X amount of dollars are coming back. Or if we are doing that refinance on the back end, what’s my loan to cost? What’s my loan to value? You know, how much money am I going to be able to pull back to be able to pay back any of my lines of credit or credit cards?

    or my hard money lender.

    So that’s the number one thing. It all goes back to knowing your numbers. I tell clients all the time I don’t necessarily would use 0 % credit cards or the line of credit for turnkey properties. If you are doing turnkey properties where it’s already fixed up and you’re not forcing appreciation, you’re going to wait a long time to get to that refinance event to be able to pull cash back out of that property. So if we are doing turnkey properties, let’s have a cash bucket to be able to use.

    know, the funds for fix and flips or buy and holds and we’re running our numbers properly, I’m not really seeing clients run into the issues on the payback because it’s of all baked into it.

    Michelle Kesil (20:51)
    Yeah, absolutely. That makes sense. Thank you for sharing your perspective.

    Nick DiFederico (20:56)
    appreciate it.

    Michelle Kesil (20:58)
    So before we wrap up here, somebody wants to reach out, connect, learn more, where can people find you and connect with you?

    Nick DiFederico (21:07
    Number one place our website, you know, www. M B kind of like Mike Boy Capital Solutions.com (www.mbcapitalsolutions.com) You know Instagram same thing MB Capital Solutions You can always give me a call directly my direct lines 856-438-0399 You know, you can call me on that number text me on that number I’m happy to have a conversation to see how we might be able to help you in your specific situation You know start to build up capital so that you can go out there and find more deals

    Michelle Kesil (21:38)
    Awesome. Appreciate your time and your perspective. Thank you for being here.

    Nick DiFederico (21:44)
    I appreciate you having me and ⁓ I wish you all the best and happy holidays and I look forward to a great new year.

    Michelle Kesil (21:53)
    Thanks so much. And for the listeners tuning in, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Nick, who are building real businesses, and we’ll see you on the next episode.

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