Texas hard money lending runs through lender-by-lender quote sheets, not one statewide rate, because leverage basis, draw mechanics and exit terms are set loan by loan rather than by any single state rule. This hub links the comparison guides for the seven Texas metros that already have one, then answers the five questions that hold true no matter which one your deal sits in: points, leverage basis, draws, the state's property-tax circuit breaker and exit timing. Compare real term sheets on your Texas deal.
Where can you compare hard money quotes for a specific Texas metro?
Seven Texas metro compare pages already break down hard money quotes city by city, and each one applies its own scoring rubric to a different local fact pattern, so the fastest path to a usable comparison is the metro page for the city where your deal sits, not a generic statewide list of lenders.
| Metro | Link | What differs |
|---|---|---|
| Houston | /blog/compare-hard-money-lenders-houston | Six-term scorecard — points, rate, advance rate, draws, extensions, guarantees — built for sending one file to many lenders at once |
| Dallas-Fort Worth | /blog/compare-hard-money-lenders-dallas-fort-worth | Normalizes quotes to cost per month held and sizes the bridge to the takeout loan's coverage test, not the purchase price |
| Fort Worth | /blog/compare-hard-money-lenders-fort-worth | Same file, different price across the Metroplex — five terms mapped against specific Tarrant County submarkets |
| San Antonio | /blog/compare-hard-money-lenders-san-antonio | A small-balance market where points, draw speed and extension terms move your return more than the headline rate |
| Austin | /blog/compare-hard-money-lenders-austin | Normalizes points, term, LTC versus LTARV, draw speed, exit fees and recourse into one all-in number |
| El Paso | /blog/compare-hard-money-lenders-el-paso | Six-axis framework plus the circuit-breaker timing rule that forces a twelve-month flip to model carry on uncapped appraisal |
| Lubbock | /blog/compare-hard-money-lenders-lubbock | Small-format multifamily stock turns the bridge-to-permanent question into a fix-and-hold question, built around the same reappraisal-timing test |
Each page applies its own version of the method below against that metro's submarket detail — this hub sets out the shared logic once rather than repeating any single city's grid.
Do points and rate vary more by Texas metro or by lender type?
Whether Texas hard money points and rate move more with the metro or with the lender type is a question to put to every lender: ask whether the same file would price differently in Houston, San Antonio or Lubbock, and which terms, such as leverage, exit plan or property type, actually move its quote.
Ask about the lender mix too: which lender types are actually quoting your metro at your loan size, since a comparison is only as wide as the lenders it reaches. Points are a percentage of the loan amount, so ask each lender how many it charges, when they are due and what would lower them. The comparison that actually matters is lender type against lender type, scored the same way in every city.
Is Texas hard money leverage measured against purchase price or ARV?
Leverage on a Texas hard money quote can be measured against purchase price, after-repair value or total project cost, so the single most important question on any term sheet, in any Texas metro, is which denominator that lender's advertised percentage is actually applied to.
According to NerdWallet, hard money lenders "typically offer loan amounts with LTVs that range from 50% to 75%," a range wide enough to hide a large swing in actual proceeds once you know which base it is applied to. The Austin and El Paso pages both build their comparison worksheets around exactly this distinction — LTC versus LTARV in Austin, leverage basis as the first axis in El Paso — because a 70% quote against purchase price and a 70% quote against ARV can land tens of thousands of dollars apart on an identical property. Get the denominator written into the term sheet before you compare the percentage across offers.
How do draw and holdback terms differ across Texas metros?
Draw and holdback terms are set loan by loan rather than by metro, and the mechanics that decide your carrying cost come down to the same five questions everywhere in Texas: how many draws, what triggers a release, who inspects, how many business days the inspection takes, and whether delivered materials count toward a draw.
Reinspection turnaround can stall a Texas rehab schedule, because interest keeps accruing on the drawn balance while a draw request waits on an inspection, whichever city the property is in. Ask every Texas lender the same draw questions: draw count and whether it is capped, the trigger (line-item completion versus percentage-of-completion), inspection turnaround in business days, who pays for the inspection, whether a first draw funds at closing, and whether self-performed labor is reimbursed. Put every answer in writing before you sign, not on a call.
How does the Texas property tax circuit breaker affect a hard money flip's carry cost?
The Texas 20% circuit breaker gives a newly bought hard money flip no appraised-value cap of its own, so carry should be underwritten on uncapped value: the limit takes effect only on January 1 of the tax year after the first year the owner owns the property on January 1, and expires December 31, 2026.
Texas Tax Code Section 23.231 sets this circuit-breaker limitation on real property other than a residence homestead, capping the appraised-value increase at 20% per year, plus the market value of new improvements, for property valued at $5,320,000 or less in the 2026 tax year, according to the Texas Comptroller. The Comptroller's office states the limitation "takes effect on Jan. 1 of the tax year following the first year the owner owns the property on Jan. 1" and "expires Dec. 31, 2026," so a newly bought flip cannot reach its first eligible year before that expiry, and a Texas hard money loan whose exit slides past year-end should not assume any cap applies to the next tax bill. Build the reappraisal date into your exit timeline, not just your loan maturity date — the El Paso and Lubbock pages both underwrite this explicitly.
Do exit timing and extension terms differ across Texas metros?
Exit timing and extension terms are set loan by loan rather than by metro, and the two provisions that decide whether a schedule slip becomes a default are the same in Houston, Austin or Lubbock: whether the extension is contractual or discretionary, and what it costs in points or dollars if you need one.
Ask each lender whether the rate is fixed or floats over a short-term index such as the Secured Overnight Financing Rate, which stood at 3.87% on September 23, 2026, per the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis; on a floating quote, every month an extension adds is a month of carry at that index plus the lender's spread, on top of any extension fee. A discretionary extension is not really an extension; it is a renegotiation at the moment you have the least leverage. Confirm in writing whether the option is contractual, how many extensions are available, and whether prepayment triggers a penalty if your exit comes early instead of late. NerdWallet notes these facilities "tend to have short repayment terms, anywhere from a few months to a few years," which is exactly why the extension clause carries as much weight as the coupon.
How do you get lenders competing for a Texas hard money deal?
You get lenders competing for a Texas hard money deal by putting one complete file — leverage basis, draw schedule, exit plan and reappraisal timing already worked out — in front of several lender types at once, rather than calling one lender at a time and re-explaining the deal on every call.
YieldStack is a commercial mortgage brokerage, not a lender. The platform matches a request against 20,000+ loan programs, with a median offer in under an hour, from an institutional lender. It is a 5-minute submit. It costs Zero upfront to submit a deal and review offers; YieldStack's broker fee is 0.50–1.00% of the loan amount and is paid only at closing. Every credit decision is made by the lender; YieldStack arranges the introductions and negotiates on the borrower's side, and no loan, rate, or closing is guaranteed.
If a bridge loan might fit the deal better than hard money, see bridge loan vs. hard money in Texas. If you are still assembling the file, see what you need to qualify for a Texas fix-and-flip loan. For the wider Texas lending picture, see our Texas market page.
The bottom line
There is no single Texas hard money rate to shop against. Start with the comparison page for your metro — Houston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Austin, El Paso or Lubbock — then score every quote you collect, in every city, on the same five things: which denominator the leverage percentage uses, how draws and holdbacks release money, how points and fees stack up by lender type, whether the reappraisal cycle lands inside or outside your exit window, without counting on the state's circuit breaker, and what a discretionary extension would actually cost you. Rate is the last thing to compare, not the first.