You can finance a condotel — a condo unit inside a building run like a hotel — as an investment, but it lives outside conventional lending, so it takes a specialty or investment loan, usually with more down. If a normal lender has turned one down, that’s expected: the asset needs a lender who understands it.
What a condotel actually is
You own a specific unit, but the building operates as a hotel — front desk, housekeeping, a rental program, hospitality amenities. Your unit can be rented out to guests through that program when you’re not using it. It’s part real estate, part hospitality business, and that hybrid nature is exactly why conventional financing struggles with it.
Why conventional lenders balk
Standard mortgage guidelines — like Fannie Mae’s — often exclude condotels because of the hotel operation, the rental program, and building characteristics that don’t fit a normal condo box. That’s not a dead end — it just means the deal belongs with an investment or specialty lender who prices the asset for what it is rather than forcing it into a conventional mold.
How you finance a condotel: underwriting
On the investment side, lenders finance a condotel on its rental performance within the hotel program — closer to short-term rental income than to a long-lease condo — alongside the financial health of the building and its reserves. A well-run building with a healthy rental program and solid reserves underwrites far better than a troubled one.
What you’ll bring
Expect more down than a standard condo — commonly in the 25%–35% range — plus reserves. The larger equity reflects both the hospitality-style income and the specialty nature of the asset. As an investment property, it qualifies on the unit’s income and the deal’s fundamentals rather than your personal income.
A typical deal
A scenario I see often: an investor buying a unit in a well-run beachfront condotel with a strong rental program, after a conventional lender declined it. We evaluate the unit’s rental performance and the building’s financials, set the down payment in the specialty range, and finance it as the investment asset it is.
Cash-out refinance on an Orlando condo-hotel for an owner in Brazil
- LoanCash-out refinance
- PropertyCondo-hotel (condotel) unit
- LocationOrlando, FL
- FinancedOctober 2026
65% LTVcash-out on a condo-hotel
The situation
An investor living in Brazil owned a condo-hotel unit in Orlando and wanted to take cash out of it.
The challenge
Condo-hotels are a niche. Many lenders won’t finance them at all, and fewer will do a cash-out for an owner who lives abroad.
How it closed
We placed the file with a lender that finances condo-hotels for foreign nationals and secured a cash-out refinance at 65% LTV.
The result
She turned part of her equity into cash without selling the unit.
Condo-hotel terms vary by building and lender. Results depend on the property, the borrower and market conditions. Client details are anonymized. See more recent deals.
Looking at a condotel?
It’s financeable — it just needs the right lender. Tell us about your deal and we’ll run it — in English or Spanish.
By Andres Jara — Alpha Equity Lending (NMLS #1855083). 20+ years in real estate finance, an MS in Finance, and an active South Florida investor and landlord.
