Commercial hard money should only be thought of as an option 
after you have exhausted all other sources and have come to the conclusion that you just won't qualify for a conventional loan. The choice, though hard for many borrowers, is normally simple. Either lose your business or building or accept the terms offered by the hard money lender.
It's a survival tactic. You're giving yourself something very valuable in exchange for the expense of the loan - time. Time to repair, time to restore whatever the issues are. Whether it's getting the business back to profitability, paying down debt, time to continue leasing out the property, restore personal credit, etc. We see so many borrowers let the egos get in the way and end up turning this into something it's not.
What it really is is an act of courage that you are facing the problems head on and doing everything you can to solve it. And no matter how bad it is, you can still have some pride in that. Many people simple hide and let the problems overwhelm them.
Remember the old sales saying of comparing apples to apples. You just cannot compare a hard money loan to a bank loan you may have been eligible for 3 years ago. You have to be realistic and compare it to your current alternatives. And here's what they are 1. Take on a partner 2. Lose the business 3. lose the building.
Say you have a building worth $2,000,000 and owe $500,000. You have $1,500,000 of equity you stand to lose vs. paying for an expensive loan. Or say you take on the wrong partner because you are pressed for time and need cash. Now you stand to lose whatever equity you have in the business, building and have additional legal issues by having to get rid of the partner. And even if it works out with the partner you will likely have to give up much more to the partner than pay in fees to the lender.
Most hard money lenders charge 6% on the front of the loan, which is obviously very expensive. Say, using the numbers above you wanted an additional $500,000 to bring the total loan balance to $1,000,000. You would pay $60,000 in fees... Versus losing $1,500,000. It's hard, but simple. Don't let your ego get in the way of this one. Face the problem head on, and fix it.
