Fix and flip rates in 2026 run 9% to 12% for most hard-money loans, with a handful of aggressive lenders publishing floors as low as the mid-to-high single-digit percentages for the strongest borrowers. Expect to pay 1 to 3 origination points on top, and most loans carry a short-term duration, often around a year, occasionally longer on larger rehabs.
Here’s what that means in dollars. On a $400,000 loan at 10% with 2 points, you’re looking at roughly $20,000 in interest over a six-month hold plus $8,000 in points, before you count closing costs or draw fees. That’s the number that actually determines whether a deal pencils out, not the headline rate a lender advertises.
The rest of this guide breaks down:
Quick benchmark: Industry data from Hard Money Scout puts typical 2026 fix-and-flip hard-money rates at 9% to 13%, with average leverage around 70% to 80% loan-to-value.
| Point | Details |
|---|---|
| Benchmark rate range | Expect 9% to 12% on most hard-money fix-and-flip loans, with floors near 7.25% reserved for top borrowers. |
| Points add real cost | Budget 1.5 to 3 origination points on top of interest, paid upfront at closing. |
| Total cost beats headline rate | A $400,000 loan at 10% with 2 points costs roughly $29,500 over a six-month hold. |
| Experience and leverage drive pricing | Fewer completed flips and higher requested LTC both push your quote above the published floor. |
| Capitalfunding fits fast, flexible deals | Capitalfunding closes hard-money and fix-and-flip loans in days and will finance projects other lenders decline. |
The published rate floor and the rate you actually get are two different numbers, and confusing them is the single most common mistake first-time flippers make when comparing lenders.
Hard Money Scout’s 2026 data shows the bulk of fix-and-flip hard-money loans clustering in the 9% to 13% range, with an average landing near 10%. HardMoneyHome reports a nearly identical band, 9.5% to 13%, with origination points typically running 1.5 to 3 points and terms usually spanning 6 to 18 months. Some lenders advertise floors in the low- to mid-7% range, but industry analysis notes those published floors often sit 1 to 2 percentage points below what a given borrower actually pays once deal risk is factored in. Treat any advertised “starting rate” as a best-case scenario reserved for experienced, well-capitalized borrowers on clean deals.
Leverage caps follow a predictable pattern across the market:
| Metric | Typical 2026 Range |
|---|---|
| Interest rate | 9% to 13% (floors from 7.25%) |
| Origination points | Usually low single digits |
| Term length | Short term, often several months to around a year (longer for larger projects) |
| ARV cap | 65% to 75% |
| LTC cap | 85% to 90% |
| Days to close | 5 to 10 business days |
Quick closings aren’t free. Lenders that promise a five-day close often price in a slight premium versus a lender willing to take three weeks, because faster underwriting means less time to verify comps and contractor bids. Regional variation matters too. A flip in a competitive metro with abundant recent comps will typically price better than a rural property where the appraiser has to stretch for comparable sales. A quoted floor from a national lender’s website is a starting point for the conversation, not a locked offer, and your actual term sheet will reflect your specific deal.
Lenders don’t price every borrower the same, and the gap between the best and worst pricing on an otherwise similar loan can run several full percentage points. Four variables do most of the work.
These factors compound rather than stack cleanly. Understanding how lenders evaluate flip projects before you apply gives you a real shot at negotiating each of these levers individually instead of accepting one blended number.
Pro Tip: Ask your lender to break down the quoted rate by factor. If experience is costing you 1.5 points, bringing a completed project with photos and a clean payoff statement to the table can sometimes shave that spread on your next loan.
Rate alone tells you almost nothing about what a flip loan will cost. Points, fees, and hold period do the real damage, and the annual percentage rate (APR) figure lenders sometimes quote can actively mislead you on a short-term deal.
Points are a percentage of the loan amount paid upfront, typically 1.5 to 3 points on a fix-and-flip loan according to HardMoneyHome’s 2026 data. Here’s why APR distorts the picture on a short hold: APR annualizes those upfront points across a full year, so a 2-point fee on a 6-month loan effectively doubles when expressed as APR, even though you only pay it once. Simple interest on the actual balance for the actual hold period is the number that matters for your underwriting.
Take a representative $400,000 loan covering purchase and rehab, at 10% interest with 2 points, held for six months:
| Cost Component | Amount |
|---|---|
| Loan amount | $400,000 |
| Interest rate | 10% annual |
| Points (2%) | $8,000 |
| Interest cost (6 months) | $20,000 |
| Estimated fees/draws | $1,500 |
| Total financing cost | $29,500 |
| Effective cost of capital | 7.4% of loan amount over 6 months |
That $29,500 all-in cost represents roughly $4,917 per month in carrying cost, a number every flipper should subtract from projected resale profit before ever signing a purchase contract. A tool like the free fix-and-flip calculator can help you run this math against your own ARV and rehab budget before you approach a lender.
Lenders reward borrowers who make underwriting easy. The paperwork you bring to the table often matters as much as your credit score.
Come prepared with a track record summary showing completed flips with purchase price, rehab spend, and sale price. Add a line-item rehab budget rather than a lump sum, contractor bids for major work, and a written exit plan that states whether you intend to sell or refinance into a rental. Lenders who can see your full plan on paper move faster and price more aggressively, because they’ve eliminated the guesswork that usually drives defensive pricing.
A few levers reliably move your rate or terms in your favor:
On negotiation, points and rate are often flexible against each other. If you plan to sell fast, ask about trading a higher rate for fewer points, since you’ll pay less total interest over a short hold. If you’re a repeat borrower, use that history explicitly. Reviewing common fix and flip financing mistakes before you submit an application also helps you avoid the underwriting red flags that push a quote higher than it needs to be.
Pro Tip: A direct private lender that underwrites in-house, rather than selling loans to a secondary market, can typically move faster and offer more flexibility on draw schedules than a broker shopping your deal to multiple sources.
Choosing the wrong financing tool costs more than a bad rate. It costs you the deal.
A HELOC typically carries a variable rate tied to prime, often several points below hard-money pricing, but approval can take two to four weeks and requires substantial equity in an existing property. A cash-out refinance offers similarly attractive rates and a fixed structure, but the closing process runs 30 to 45 days, which rules it out for time-sensitive purchases like auction properties. Personal loans close quickly but cap out at lower amounts, usually far short of what a rehab project needs, and carry rates that can rival or exceed hard money once you factor in the smaller loan size. According to Rocket Mortgage’s overview of flip financing, rehab loans underwrite specifically to after-repair value, funding roughly 70% of ARV, which is a structure HELOCs and cash-out refinances simply aren’t built to offer.
A simple way to decide:
Capitalfunding is a private lender backed by a family office, closing hard-money loans in days rather than weeks. That speed matters most when a benchmark rate on paper means nothing because a slow closing process cost you the deal entirely.
Beyond fix-and-flip loans, Capitalfunding’s program lineup covers ground-up construction and long-term rental financing, so investors scaling from one flip into a portfolio don’t need to restart the qualification process with a new lender each time. Capitalfunding has closed over $1 billion in loans and holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, and it will finance projects other lenders decline, including ultra-luxury single-family homes over $10 million.
If your deal involves a property type or price point that a conventional hard-money lender has already turned down, or if your closing window is measured in days rather than weeks, that’s the scenario where a direct lender relationship pays for itself.
Most rate roundups stop at the headline number, and that’s exactly where they stop being useful.
The conventional advice treats rate shopping as the whole job. It isn’t. Points, term length, and draw structure move your total cost far more than a single percentage point of rate ever will, and I’d argue most new flippers underwrite the wrong variable entirely. They chase the lowest advertised rate instead of asking what their all-in cost looks like across the realistic hold period for their specific deal.
If you take one thing from this guide, prioritize the total-cost math over the rate comparison. Run your own numbers with a rehab and profit calculator before you ever call a lender, so you walk into that conversation knowing which levers, experience, leverage, or comps, are worth negotiating hardest.
You’ve seen the math: rate is only one piece of what a flip actually costs, and speed to close can matter more than a quarter-point of pricing when a deal is time-sensitive. Capitalfunding closes hard-money and fix-and-flip loans in days, not weeks, backed by a family office rather than a slow institutional pipeline.
That speed comes with flexibility most conventional lenders won’t offer. Capitalfunding finances property types and price points other lenders decline, including ultra-luxury single-family homes over $10 million, and has closed more than $1 billion in loans with an A+ Better Business Bureau rating backing that track record. Whether you’re financing your first rehab or scaling into ground-up construction, Capitalfunding’s fix-and-flip program is built to fund the deal your timeline actually demands. If speed and flexibility matter more than shaving a fraction off a headline rate, reach out to Capitalfunding to get a term sheet started on your next property.
Rates start in the 8’s – 9’s and max out in the 12’s depending on credit, experience, location, ltv.
This refers to an IRS provision allowing family loans up to $100,000 to avoid imputed-interest tax rules under certain conditions; consult IRS Publication 535 or a tax professional, since the details depend on the borrower’s net investment income.
You always want to make sure there is at least 30% profit in a flip or it is not a good enough deal.
Flipping remains profitable when financing costs are underwritten accurately.
