Hard money lender in San Antonio, TX.

I am a hard money lender in San Antonio, and the deals that make sense to me here are close to downtown: wood frame bungalows from the early twentieth century, cottages on narrow lots, and the occasional empty parcel between them where a builder wants to put up something new. The inner neighborhoods ring the core in every direction, and each one has its own buyer and its own ceiling.

San Antonio is cheaper to buy into than Austin or Dallas, which pulls in investors from all over the state. A low entry price is not the same thing as a wide margin, though. The spread on a bungalow flip here depends on the scope being right, the resale comparables being honest, and the city signing off on the exterior work where it has the authority to do so. That last item is the one people from outside town tend to miss.

I am a private money lender. You talk to the person who reads the file and signs the term sheet, and if the answer is no you hear why. Below are the neighborhoods investors work in, the kinds of property that change hands, and how fix and flip loans in San Antonio, DSCR loans in San Antonio and new construction loans in San Antonio fit a market that rewards a quick, clean close.

The core trade is the single-story frame bungalow on pier and beam, two or three bedrooms, often with a later addition at the back that was never quite square with the original house. These look simple and rarely are. The foundation needs leveling more often than not, the wiring may be a mix of eras, plumbing under the house may be cast iron or galvanized, and the roof is usually due. I read the scope from the ground up: foundation, roof, mechanicals, then the kitchen and baths.

Larger restoration projects come up in the historic districts on the East Side and south of downtown. Two-story Victorians and big Craftsman houses sell well when they are done right, and the buyers who pay for them notice whether the porch, windows and siding were handled with care. Those projects take longer, cost more per square foot and depend on the city approving the exterior plan, so they deserve a longer schedule and a thicker contingency.

Further out, mid-century brick and frame ranch houses on the South and West Sides trade as cosmetic flips and as rentals. The work is lighter, the resale ceiling is lower, and the buyer pool includes plenty of first-time owners using government-backed financing, which means the finished house has to pass a conventional appraisal and an inspection without drama.

Infill is the other active category. Vacant and teardown lots in the inner neighborhoods get new single-families, small duplexes and sometimes a pair of narrow homes on a split parcel. The questions there are zoning, utility access, the permit path and, inside a historic district, whether the design for a new house is approved before anybody pours a slab.

San Antonio has a long list of locally designated historic districts, King William, Dignowity Hill and Lavaca among them, plus individually landmarked buildings scattered across the city. Inside those boundaries, exterior work needs a certificate of appropriateness from the city's Office of Historic Preservation before the building permit is issued. Windows, siding, porches, roofing materials, fences, additions and new construction can all fall under that review.

Some routine items can be approved by staff. Larger changes go to the city's Historic and Design Review Commission, which meets on a set calendar. Either way, the review happens before the work, and that sequence is what changes the underwrite. A flip in a district does not start on closing day. It starts when the exterior plan is approved, and the carry runs in the meantime.

The review also shapes the budget. Replacing original wood windows with cheap vinyl, swapping siding for a different material or enclosing a front porch may not be approved, and repairing original materials tends to cost more than replacing them. I want to see a scope written with the district's guidelines in mind and a schedule that includes the review, not one that assumes permits on day one.

None of this is a reason to avoid the historic neighborhoods. Restored houses there command the prices they do partly because the districts are protected. It is a reason to check whether the address sits inside a district before you sign, call the Office of Historic Preservation about the scope you have in mind, and budget for the version of the work the city will accept.

Fix and flip loans in San Antonio fund the purchase and the rehab together, with the rehab money released in draws as the work is completed and inspected. On a pier and beam bungalow the first draws usually follow the foundation leveling, the roof and the rough mechanicals. Finishes come last, and so does the money for them.

My after-repair value comes from finished houses of the same age and size in the same neighborhood, and ideally on the same few blocks, because a restored cottage in a historic district and a flipped ranch two miles south are not comparables. If the house is inside a district, I want the review status in the file. A written term sheet follows in 24 to 48 hours, and closing takes 5 to 10 days once title is clear. Pricing is set per deal and stated in the term sheet.

How fix and flip loans work

DSCR loans in San Antonio qualify on the property's rent, not your personal income, so the file has no tax returns or W2s. I need the lease or a market rent estimate the appraiser will back, plus the taxes and the insurance, because both are real lines in Bexar County and both go into the coverage calculation.

A DSCR loan fits a stabilized single-family, a duplex near downtown or the refinance on a bungalow you rehabbed and leased. It closes in 14 to 21 days. I would rather size the loan on the rent a tenant is actually paying than on the top of the range for the neighborhood. Pricing is set per deal and stated in the term sheet.

How DSCR loans work

New construction loans in San Antonio combine the land and the vertical build in one facility, from $150K to $1M+. The typical project is a single-family or small duplex on an inner-city lot, often replacing a house that was beyond saving, and sometimes on a lot the builder already owns.

I review the contractor bids before closing. I want a line-item budget, a build schedule tied to it, plans, and some sign the builder has finished comparable houses here. Inside a historic district, new construction goes through design review as well as permitting, so the approved design should be in hand or close to it. Draws follow inspected progress. With a complete file, a build loan here closes in 10 to 14 days.

How construction loans work

A bridge loan is how a San Antonio BRRRR begins. You buy a worn bungalow or duplex, fund the purchase and rehab with me, lease it, and 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 not a cold read by somebody new.

Bridge money also helps when the timing is awkward: a house you need to close on before a review is approved, or one that needs more work than a conventional lender will touch. The plan has to show the exit, whether that is a sale or a refinance, and a schedule realistic enough to reach it. Pricing is set per deal and stated in the term sheet.

How the BRRRR bridge works

The schedule assumes a few weeks for exterior review before the permit, which is why it runs longer than a comparable flip outside a district. If the review asks for changes, the plan and the carry adjust together.

Window repair rather than replacement is in the budget on purpose. Pricing the cheaper option and then being told no is how a historic flip goes over budget before demolition is finished.

The after-repair value only holds if the finished house looks like the restored sales nearby. A modern-looking flip on a block of restored Victorians will not get there, even if the city approves it.