Hard Money Loans in Texas: What They Cost and When You Don’t Need One
Speed is the headline on every hard money loan in Texas, and it carries a price. Whether that price is worth paying comes down to how long you plan to keep the property. This page runs the real cost math on that one decision.
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By Andrew Pawlak, Founder · Updated
Texas fix-and-flip loan at a glance
Sized on the project- Credit
- From 680
- Leverage (purchase + rehab)
- Up to 95%
- Rehab financing
- Up to 100%
- Loan range
- Up to $2M
- Loan terms
- Up to 18 months
- Property types
- SFRs, 2–4 units, and condos
Keeping it after the rehab? The exit is a Texas DSCR refinance.
Speed is the headline on every hard money loan in Texas. In a state where landlording runs at scale across four of the largest metros in the country, a lot of fast capital chases a lot of deals. Dallas auctions, Houston distressed closes, San Antonio rehabs, value-adds down in the Valley. The pace is real, and so is the pull to pay for it. What most Texas investors never stop to ask is the question that decides the whole thing. How long are you keeping the property?
What does a hard money loan cost in Texas?
Hard money in Texas is priced in points plus a higher rate, on short terms that usually run somewhere between six months and two years, secured by the property itself. The desk confirms current ranges against live market and program terms rather than quoting them from memory. This is fast capital, priced for speed. Before you pay for that speed, ask whether your Texas deal needs it. Often a DSCR or bridge loan does the same job for less.
When hard money is the right tool
Hard money is the right tool in one situation. You have a short-hold deal where speed is worth the premium, like a flip or a heavy rehab you plan to sell into. For that work you want purpose-built fix-and-flip financing, which carries the same speed and is shaped around the renovation and the sale, so you skip hard-money pricing on a loan that was never built for the project.
When you plan to hold the property, the picture changes. A Texas rental you intend to keep belongs on a DSCR loan. The term runs thirty years and the property qualifies on its own rent. Title sits in your LLC from closing. The gap widens in Texas, because property taxes ride inside the payment every month, so the lower long-term carry does more work here than in most states. Paying hard-money points and rate on a property you plan to hold is renting money at flip prices for a marathon.
Texas throws a third case often. You need to close now and you will refinance soon, once the property stabilizes or a timing gap clears. A bridge loan is built for that. You get a fast close that you are structured to exit, so you avoid pricing the whole hold like a flip.
| Dimension | Hard money | DSCR loan | Bridge loan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Built for | Speed on short holds | Buy-and-hold rentals | Close now, refi later |
| Term | Months, not years | 30-yr fixed · IO options | Up to 18 months |
| Qualifies on | The asset | The property’s rent vs. payment | The asset and the exit |
| Cost profile | Priced for speed | Priced to hold | Priced for the gap |
| When it wins | Auction or heavy rehab | Any keeper you’ll hold | Timing gaps |
The table quotes nothing on price, on purpose. Cost depends on the program and the market. What matters is the total you pay over the months or years you hold the money, and the headline rate never captures that.
The Texas market, by the numbers
Read the Texas snapshot like an investor. The price-to-rent spread between metros is where the strategy lives, and the county tax line often changes the answer.
Texas rental market snapshot
Data as of Jun 30, 2026 · refreshed quarterly| Metro | Typical rent | Median home value | Price-to-rent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas, TX | $1,673/mo | $366,701 | 18.3 |
| Houston, TX | $1,648/mo | $308,933 | 15.6 |
| San Antonio, TX | $1,416/mo | $280,370 | 16.5 |
| Austin, TX | $1,653/mo | $426,944 | 21.5 |
| McAllen, TX | $1,114/mo | $194,546 | 14.6 |
Sources: Zillow Observed Rent Index (ZORI), smoothed, SFR+condo (Jun 30, 2026) · Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), mid-tier, smoothed (Jun 30, 2026) · Zillow Home Value Index (ZHVI), bottom-tier, smoothed (Jun 30, 2026). Lower price-to-rent generally means stronger cash flow, and a stronger DSCR.
The Texas rules block
- Property taxes sit inside the monthly payment and vary by county, which makes them the biggest carry variable in Texas; the exact load is confirmed on your specific deal
- Cash-out on investment property runs under business-purpose rules, which are separate from the Texas homestead-equity rules; how they apply to your deal is confirmed at application
- LLC vesting is standard practice on Texas investor loans; entity setup folds into closing, with the specifics settled as your file is reviewed
Where Texas investors usually land
The through-line across every Texas metro stays the same. Your holding period picks the loan. A Dallas flip or a heavy San Antonio rehab is a short-hold, speed-priced deal, and fix-and-flip financing fits it cleanly. A Houston or Valley rental you plan to keep is a marathon, and the DSCR structure carries it for a fraction of the long-run cost. If you need to win the close first and refinance once it stabilizes, that is a bridge loan. One investor in one market can need all three over time, because the jobs differ and the holding periods price differently.
For the same comparison without the state specifics, see the national guide to hard money lenders.
OneMoreDoor Capital is not a hard money lender; this page is an educational comparison of financing options available to Texas real estate investors.
Run your Texas numbers
Give us the property and the rent, plus your plan for it, and we compute your options on the spot with the full Texas payment in the math. Start in about 60 seconds · No tax returns · No W-2s.
Start in about 60 seconds · No tax returns · No W-2s
A McAllen, TX flip, run through our fix-and-flip engine
Using McAllen, TX’s median home value from the table above as the after-repair value, assuming rehab at roughly 17% of after-repair value.
Illustrative terms: 90% of purchase + rehab financed · 12% interest-only · 2 points · $500/mo carry · 8% selling costs. Your actual rate is quoted by the desk.
Founder, OneMoreDoor Capital
Andrew Pawlak is the founder of OneMoreDoor Capital, a business-purpose loan brokerage that arranges DSCR and other investor loans through its lending partners. He has spent 22 years in the mortgage industry on the marketing and technology side.
How fast can I close a hard money loan in Texas?
Speed is the reason hard money exists. The product moves at the pace of an auction or a distressed close, when a slower file would lose the deal. Exact timelines depend on the program and the deal. The more useful question in Texas is whether your deal needs to close in days. A bridge loan can give you a fast close on a property you plan to keep and refinance soon, often at a lower cost to carry over the hold.
What credit score do hard money lenders in Texas require?
Hard money leans on the asset and the project, meaning what you pay for the property and what it becomes after the rehab, so the credit bar generally sits lower than a conventional loan. If your plan is to hold the Texas property and rent it, that asset-based test is the wrong one for you. A DSCR loan qualifies on the property's rent instead of your income, and the desk confirms the exact credit expectations at application.
Do Texas property taxes change which loan I should use?
They change the math more than most investors expect. Texas runs high property taxes, and on a buy-and-hold those taxes sit inside the payment every month for the life of the loan. That makes the lower long-term carry of a DSCR loan worth more here than in most states. On a short flip you exit in months, so the carry barely registers. Your holding period is the deciding variable, and Texas taxes only sharpen it.
Ready to run your deal?
Tell us the property, the rent, and the plan. Your DSCR computed on the spot, with options priced by lending partners on the property's cash flow.
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