Fix and Flip in McAllen

The entry basis is the lowest of any large U.S. metro, and that is what a flip here runs on. Zillow's mid-tier single-family value for the McAllen MSA was $195,624 in June 2026, the lowest of the 100 largest metros in its home value index, against $375,094 nationally, and the market is flat rather than crashing (+0.4% year over year). Median list price has come down to $260,000 in July 2026, days on market have stretched to 81, and active listings are up 9.7% year over year, so buyers have room to negotiate the purchase. No McAllen-metro-specific flip rate or gross margin figure is published, so run your own numbers on the fix and flip calculator rather than assume a statewide or national margin applies here.

We don't have a verified City of McAllen fee schedule, so build the budget off the permit office's own numbers. The only published figures we found came from a single construction company rather than the city, and they cover new construction rather than rehab scope, so we're not repeating them here as though they applied to your job. Call the McAllen permit office, or Edinburg's or Mission's depending on the address, for the current schedule before you set a rehab budget. No published review-time target for a McAllen, Edinburg, or Mission permit was found, and Texas has no statutory permit clock like some other states, so don't promise your contractor a turnaround; ask the permit office directly and price the wait into your rehab budget.

More than the sale price suggests, and none of it is softened by a homestead exemption. Investment property gets no homestead exemption and no 10% homestead cap in Texas, so a flip is taxed at full appraised value. Stack the rates for a McAllen-city property in McAllen ISD: Hidalgo County 0.5750 and Hidalgo County Drainage District #1 0.1123 (a flood-control levy that runs county-wide), both adopted for TY2025, plus the city of McAllen at 0.449989 for FY 2024-25 and McAllen ISD at 0.9322 per $100, before the South Texas College rate is added. That's roughly $2.07 per $100 of value before the college levy, and a combined 2.1% to 2.5% works out to $4,100 to $4,900 a year on a median-value property, or about 3 months of the metro's median single-family rent. A flip you sell inside the year still owes the full bill for however long you hold it, so quote the carry against your real hold period, not a full tax year.

Hidalgo County sits outside the coastal windstorm zone, but flood is the real local peril. The Texas Windstorm Insurance Association's 14-county coastal catastrophe area covers Cameron and Willacy counties, not Hidalgo, so a McAllen, Edinburg, or Mission property buys standard-market wind coverage rather than a TWIA policy. Flood is a different story: storms on June 24-25, 2019 dropped 12 to 18 inches of rain on the Valley, destroyed or seriously damaged nearly 1,200 homes, and triggered a federal disaster declaration (DR-4454) covering Hidalgo County. The terrain is a flat river delta, which is also why the county-wide drainage district levy exists. Pull the FEMA flood zone on the specific parcel before you close and price flood coverage as its own line, not an assumption baked into a standard policy.

Yes, and it's the diligence step an out-of-town investor is most likely to skip. Hidalgo County is one of the counties most affected by Texas's colonias, unincorporated subdivisions historically sold as unplatted lots without water, sewer, or drainage. The state responded with Model Subdivision Rules under Water Code section 16.343, border-county platting requirements under Local Government Code chapter 232, and executory-contract protections for contracts for deed under Property Code chapter 5, subchapter D, all of which apply in Hidalgo County. A lot's chain of title can carry unrecorded or partially performed contract-for-deed history from that era. Before you buy to flip, confirm the lot sits on a recorded plat rather than a metes-and-bounds slice of an unplatted tract, run title deep enough to surface any contract-for-deed chain and get it resolved before closing, and confirm actual water and sewer service rather than "available in the area." Talk to your title company or attorney about a specific parcel's history.

On the ARV, the purchase price, and the rehab budget. There is no minimum score on this program. We do run credit, but on an asset-based McAllen flip it carries far less weight than it would at a bank. The file turns on the purchase price, the rehab budget, and the ARV. Weaker credit usually means lower leverage rather than a decline, so you bring a little more to the table instead of getting turned away. There is no hard credit pull to start. Subject to underwriting.

About 10% of the purchase, plus closing costs and carry. We fund up to 90% of the purchase price and up to 100% of the rehab budget, capped to ARV. On a $200,000 McAllen purchase that is up to $180,000 from us and $20,000 from you (200,000 x 90% = 180,000), with rehab drawn against the schedule instead of paid up front. McAllen's mid-tier value was $195,624 in June 2026, the lowest of the 100 largest US metros in Zillow's index, so the entry check here is small in absolute dollars. The 6-month interest-only term is the other number to plan for. Subject to underwriting.

Yes. First-time flippers are welcome on this program. There is no track-record gate and no minimum credit score. What we underwrite is the purchase, the rehab budget, and the ARV, funding up to 90% of purchase and up to 100% of rehab, capped to ARV, on a 6-month interest-only term. A first McAllen deal has one thing working for it: days on market ran 81 in July 2026, so there is room to negotiate the buy rather than race. Subject to underwriting.

It can, which is why the floor matters more here than in most metros. The program runs from $100,000 to $5M. McAllen's mid-tier single-family value was $195,624 in June 2026, the lowest of the 100 largest US metros in Zillow's index, so a 90% loan on a low-basis Valley lot can land under the minimum. Send the purchase price and the rehab budget up front and we will tell you whether the deal clears it. Subject to underwriting.