09/24/2026
Detroit permit timelines are eating 28% of standard loan terms before work even starts.
We're tracking this closely at Fertile Ground. A 6–10 week permit window in Detroit city isn't unusual—it's the baseline. On a traditional 9-month fix and flip loan, that delay alone consumes more than two months of your runway before the first nail gets hammered.
This changes everything about loan structuring. Borrowers aren't asking for 12-month terms anymore because they want flexibility. They need them to stay solvent. The math is brutal: permitting delays + construction time + holdback periods = a compressed timeline that 9-month products simply can't absorb.
We've adjusted our underwriting accordingly. The permits aren't going faster, so the loan products have to adapt. If your lender is still leading with 9-month terms in Metro Detroit, they're not reading the market.
The projects that close are the ones that plan for reality, not wishful thinking.
