Hard money lender in Dallas, TX.

I am a hard money lender in Dallas, and the city gives an investor three very different games inside one set of limits: postwar brick ranches in the southern and eastern sectors, prewar bungalows on pier and beam closer to downtown, and torn down lots where a builder puts up something new and taller. Each one can work. They just fail in different ways.

The failure that shows up across all three is underneath the house. Dallas sits on clay that swells when it is wet and shrinks when it is dry, and a home that looked level at the showing can need piers, shimming or a new set of beams before anyone touches the kitchen. I would rather price that in at the start than argue about it at the third draw.

As a private money lender, I read the file myself and sign the term sheet myself, so you hear yes or no with the reason behind it. Below are the neighborhoods investors work in, the deals that change hands here, the local factor I underwrite hardest, and how fix and flip loans in Dallas, DSCR loans in Dallas and new construction loans in Dallas actually run when a seller wants an answer this week.

The highest volume flip in Dallas is the postwar ranch: three bedrooms, one or two baths, brick veneer over a concrete slab, built when the southern and eastern parts of the city filled in. The finishes are dated but the bones are simple. What decides the budget is the slab, the cast iron drain lines under it, the roof and the electrical panel. A cosmetic flip on one of these is quick. A flip that turns out to need foundation piers and a drain line reroute is a different project with the same purchase price.

Closer to the center, the deal is a 1920s or 1930s bungalow on pier and beam in neighborhoods like Oak Cliff or Old East Dallas. These sell to buyers who want the original character, so the after-repair value can be strong, but the crawlspace carries the risk: rotted sills, settled interior piers, and decades of patchwork leveling. Historic district rules can also govern what you do to the outside.

Single-family rentals trade across the city, often as the second life of a flip that did not list, or as a BRRRR from the start. Smaller duplexes and fourplexes come up too, especially in the older inner neighborhoods, and they underwrite on the rent they can show rather than on comparable sales.

Then there is new construction. Dallas has active teardown and infill building, from modern single-family homes on cleared lots in West Dallas to new houses on vacant parcels in South Dallas. The questions are zoning, the lot survey, utilities, the soils report the slab design depends on, and whether the builder has finished a house like this here before.

Much of Dallas sits on expansive clay soil that takes on water and swells, then dries out and shrinks back. A wet spring followed by a hot, dry summer moves the ground under a house, and it rarely moves evenly. That is why foundation repair is one of the most common large items in a Dallas rehab, on slabs and on pier and beam alike, and why it is the one local factor I look at first.

On a slab, the signs are cracks in brick veneer and drywall, doors that stick, and floors that slope toward one side of the house. On pier and beam, it is a soft or bouncy floor, a crawlspace with rotted beams or sunken piers, and shims stacked on shims from earlier repairs. Either way, a buyer's lender will often ask about it at resale, and a buyer's inspector will look.

Before the contract firms up, get a report from a structural engineer, or at least from a foundation company that will put a written scope and a warranty on its work. I want to see that report in the file, and I want the foundation scope carried as its own line in the rehab budget with a contingency beside it. Drainage, gutters and a plumbing test on the drain lines under the slab belong in the same conversation, because a leaking drain feeds the very soil movement you are paying to fix.

None of this makes Dallas a hard market. It means the cheapest house on the street may be cheap for a reason under the floor, and a flip that works with the foundation in the budget is a flip worth funding.

Fix and flip loans in Dallas fund the purchase and the rehab in a single facility, with rehab money released in draws as work is completed and inspected. On a slab ranch, foundation work and any drain line repair usually come first, so the first draw often covers piers, the plumbing fix and the engineer's sign-off rather than anything a buyer will see.

I set the after-repair value from renovated sales close to the house, ideally in the same subdivision, because a refreshed ranch in Pleasant Grove and a restored bungalow in north Oak Cliff live in different worlds. I also want to know whether the comparables sold with a foundation warranty, because buyers here notice. Expect a written term sheet within 24 to 48 hours and a closing in 5 to 10 days, subject to title. Pricing is set per deal and stated in the term sheet.

How fix and flip loans work

DSCR loans in Dallas qualify on the rent the property produces, not on your personal income, so you do not send tax returns or W2s. I need the lease or a market rent opinion, proof the rent is being collected if the home is occupied, and an insurance quote that reflects what coverage costs here today, since that line can move the ratio more than people expect.

These close in 14 to 21 days. They suit single-family rentals and small multifamily that are already stabilized, and they are the usual exit for a bridge or flip loan once the work is done and a tenant is in place. On an older house I also ask whether the foundation has been repaired and warrantied, because an appraiser or insurer who sees open movement can change the numbers the loan is sized on.

How DSCR loans work

New construction loans in Dallas combine the land and the vertical build in one facility, with loans in this program running from $150K to $1M+. Most of what gets built is single-family or townhome infill on a cleared or vacant lot, in places like West Dallas and South Dallas, by builders who either own the dirt already or are buying it as part of the deal.

I review the contractor bids before closing. I want a line-item budget, a schedule that matches it, the plans, and the geotechnical report the foundation engineer used, because on this clay the slab design is not a detail. Each draw is released once an inspector confirms that stage of the build is done. Permits and zoning come before finishes, since a stalled permit means carrying cost with no progress. These close in 10 to 14 days once the file is complete.

How construction loans work

A Dallas BRRRR starts with a bridge loan. You buy a tired house, fund the purchase and rehab with me, place a tenant, and then refinance into a DSCR loan from the same lender once it is stabilized. Because I already know the property and the budget, the refinance is reviewed against numbers I have seen rather than read cold by someone new.

On a hold, the foundation question matters twice: once for the rehab budget and again for the refinance, because the appraiser and the insurer will both look at the structure. Finish the foundation work with a transferable warranty before you lease the house, and the refinance has one less thing to question. Pricing is set per deal and stated in the term sheet.

How the BRRRR bridge works

The foundation scope comes from an engineer's report ordered during the option period, before the purchase price is final. If that report calls for more piers than expected, the price is the thing to renegotiate, not the contingency.

A plumbing test on the drain lines under the slab is worth the small cost up front. A broken cast iron line found after the floors go in means breaking concrete twice.

The resale buyer will usually ask for the foundation warranty and the engineer's letter. Keep both in the file from day one, because a clean structural story is part of what supports the after-repair value.