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California Hard Money and Investor Loans
California is a licensed lending state, and we underwrite it that way.
USA Mortgage funds investors across California. Prop 13 resets your tax basis the day you buy. A trustee sale runs about four months at the statutory floor. Business-purpose loans only, and every structure is set in underwriting.
We decide in house, so you get a term sheet the same day.
Coast and interior, one desk
Charter-city closings and Central Valley basis are different deals. We underwrite both without handing you off.
Direct lender, no broker
We underwrite and fund in-house. No middle layer slowing down your close.
Every investor strategy
Flips, rentals, new construction, bridge, and portfolio loans, all under one roof.
Loan programs in California
Acquisition through exit, all funded or arranged by one lender.
Fix and Flip in CaliforniaRental / DSCR in CaliforniaGround-Up Construction in CaliforniaCRE Bridge in CaliforniaTransactional Funding in CaliforniaBank Statement / No-Doc in CaliforniaConventional Investment in CaliforniaPortfolio Loans in CaliforniaCRE Permanent in CaliforniaSBA Financing in California
California lending questions
Do you lend across all of California?
Yes, statewide, and the state does not behave like one market. Coastal metros price on scarcity and land cost, so leverage, loan size and exit timing look nothing like the interior. The Central Valley and the Inland Empire price on cost of entry, which is why the same borrower runs a very different deal in each. Rather than restate market conditions here, go to the metro that owns them: Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, San Diego, Oakland, Orange County, Sacramento, Riverside, Stockton, Fresno and Bakersfield. What this page covers is the layer they all share: licensing, usury, foreclosure, transfer tax, Prop 13 and insurance. Every loan is business-purpose only, on investment property, and terms are subject to underwriting. See loan programs or talk to us.
Is a business-purpose loan a licensed activity in California?
Yes, and that is the single biggest way California differs from Texas. The California Financing Law, Financial Code division 9 beginning at section 22000, requires licensing of finance lenders and brokers making and brokering consumer and commercial loans, and the DFPI states it reaches commercial-purpose lending including loans secured by residential real estate. Business purpose does not take a real-estate-secured loan out of licensing here. Section 22502 defines a commercial loan as $5,000 or more whose proceeds are intended for other than personal, family or household use, and the lender may rely on the borrower's written statement of purpose. That is why your California file carries a business-purpose affidavit. There are two lawful paths to make or arrange these loans: a DFPI-issued CFL license, or a DRE real estate broker license under Financial Code section 22057 for a loan secured by a lien on real property. Anyone telling you business-purpose lending is unlicensed in California is wrong.
Why does the usury exemption matter so much on a California private loan?
Because California is one of the few states where the constitutional cap actually bites. Article XV, section 1 of the state constitution sets 7% per year absent a written contract, caps loans primarily for personal, family or household purposes at 10%, and caps everything else, business-purpose real estate loans included, at the higher of 10% or 5% plus the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco advance rate on the 25th of the preceding month. Typical private money pricing sits above that, so the exemptions are the whole ballgame. Two matter here: a CFL licensee lending under its license sits in a class the Legislature created consistent with article XV, and Civil Code section 1916.1 disapplies the rate restrictions to a loan made or arranged by a licensed real estate broker and secured by a lien on real property. Getting it wrong is expensive: treble the interest paid in the year before suit, forfeiture of all interest, and willful loan sharking is a felony. That is context, not legal advice. Ask your own counsel about your structure.
How long does a California foreclosure take, and does the Homeowner Bill of Rights apply to my loan?
About four months at the statutory floor, and no, HBOR does not reach a business-purpose loan. Civil Code section 2924(a) requires a notice of default recorded in the county where the property sits, and not less than three months must elapse before notice of sale can be given. Section 2924f(b) then requires publication once a week for three consecutive weeks with first publication at least 20 days before the sale, posting on the property at least 20 days before, and recording at least 20 days before. Add them and the floor is roughly 111 to 120 days from notice of default to sale. We do not publish a typical elapsed time, because no primary source supports one. On HBOR, Civil Code section 2924.15 limits its protections to a first lien on owner-occupied property securing a loan made for personal, family or household purposes, so a business-purpose loan on non-owner-occupied property sits outside it by definition. That is the same logic that keeps us on investment property only.
What does Proposition 13 actually do to my numbers when I buy?
It resets your basis at the price you pay, then caps the growth. Article XIII A of the constitution holds the ad valorem tax to 1% of full cash value, sets full cash value at the 1975-76 base or the appraised value when a property is purchased, newly constructed or changes ownership, and lets the base rise by an inflationary rate not to exceed 2% a year. For an investor that cuts two ways. The seller's low assessed value does not travel with the property, so underwrite the tax line at your purchase price, not at the seller's bill. In exchange, once you own it the assessed base grows at most 2% a year no matter what the market does, which is a real advantage on a long hold. Effective bills run the 1% plus voter-approved debt levies that vary by county and district, so pull the actual rate stack for the parcel. There is no homestead-versus-investor rate class on the ad valorem side. Talk to your California CPA about your own position.
Who closes a California deal, an attorney or an escrow company?
Escrow. No attorney is required at a California closing. Licensed escrow companies and title companies run the file. Independent escrow companies are licensed by the DFPI under the Escrow Law, while controlled escrows run by brokers, attorneys or title insurers operate under their own regulators' exemptions. There is also a real north-south split in practice: in Northern California the title insurance company typically runs the escrow, while in Southern California a separate independent escrow company usually sits alongside the title insurer. Custom on who pays the owner's title premium differs too, with seller-pays customary in the south and buyer-pays more common in the north, and it is negotiable everywhere. We do not publish a per-county who-pays chart, because no primary source supports one. Ask your escrow officer what the custom is in that county before you write the offer.
What credit score do I need to borrow in California?
It depends entirely on the program. On our asset-based loans, meaning fix and flip, bridge and ground up construction, there is no minimum score. We run credit, but it carries far less weight than it would at a bank, and weak credit is usually answered with lower leverage rather than a decline. DSCR and bank statement loans start at 640, conventional investment starts at 580, and transactional funding runs with no credit check at all. There is no hard pull to open a California file. Subject to underwriting.
What is the smallest loan you will write in California?
$100,000 on most residential programs. Fix and flip, DSCR and bank statement loans all start there. Portfolio loans start at $500,000 across five or more properties, and SBA starts at $350,000. At the top, fix and flip and construction run to $5,000,000, DSCR and bank statement to $3,000,000, and commercial bridge to $10,000,000. The floor rarely binds on the coast and regularly does in the interior, so check the number against the parcel before you tie up a contract. Subject to underwriting.
How much do I have to put down on a California deal?
Anywhere from nothing to 30%, depending on the program. Fix and flip funds up to 90% of purchase plus up to 100% of rehab, so on a $600,000 purchase that is $540,000 from us and $60,000 from you (600,000 x 90% = 540,000). DSCR and conventional investment run up to 80% LTV, commercial bridge up to 75%, construction up to 70% of value and 85% of cost, and SBA finances up to 90%. Transactional funding covers up to 100% of the A-to-B purchase. Budget the escrow, title and recording lines on top. Subject to underwriting.
Serving California and nearby
Los AngelesSan DiegoSan JoseSan FranciscoOaklandSacramentoFresnoBakersfieldRiversideStockton
Other markets
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About the local figures on this page
Local rules move. Every tax rate, fee, ordinance and market figure here comes from a primary source and carries the date we read it, and we correct them as the rules change. Where a number is mid-change or we could not verify it, we say so rather than guess. Before you commit a budget, confirm anything that drives it with the city or county, and talk to your attorney or CPA on questions of law or tax.
Published by USA Mortgage Funding, LLC, NMLS #152588. Researched from primary sources by our team, drafted with AI assistance, and every figure checked against its source before publishing. Where an answer rests on a public record, that record is linked under it. Figures read on 2026-08-12.
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