Fix and Flip in Midland

The oil cycle, more than the rehab crew. Every housing number in this metro is downstream of drilling activity: the Permian Basin rig count was 263 for the week of August 7, 2026, up 3 for the week and the highest since July 2025, with WTI spot around $84.77 a barrel. That backdrop is supportive right now, but Zillow's rent index shows how fast it can turn: metro rents fell about 26% peak to trough in the 2020 oil crash and are still down 3.6% to 4.0% year over year as of June 2026 even with the current recovery. Median days on market is 46 in Midland and 47 in Odessa as of July 2026, so exits clear in about a month and a half when priced to the comps in front of you, not the comps from the last up-cycle. Our fix and flip loan runs a 6-month interest-only term; build the rehab and listing window to finish inside it, and time your list date against the rig count and WTI, not just the punch list.

Midland is genuinely fast; Odessa is not published. The City of Midland's own targets are 5 to 7 business days for residential plan review, 7 to 10 business days for commercial alterations, repairs, and accessory structures, and 20 business days for new commercial buildings. Fees are paid 25% at submission and 75% after approval, and once issued, construction has to start within 180 days and can't sit idle more than 180 days or the permit lapses. Applications route through the PermitMidland portal (permitrequests@midlandtexas.gov, 432-685-7390). Odessa permits run through its MGO Connect portal, but the city has not published equivalent review-day targets or a fee schedule, so call the Development Department (432-335-3211) before you build the rehab timeline into your carry math. Our rehab budget guide covers how to size the number either way.

Roughly 60-plus basis points a year more, and it moves real money. A City of Midland / Midland ISD parcel stacks to about $1.47 per $100 of value on 2025 adopted rates, driven by Midland County's unusually low 0.121374 county rate. The four sourced Ector County taxing units alone (county, City of Odessa, Ector County ISD, Odessa College) stack past $2.09 per $100 before the hospital district, call it roughly 2.1%-plus all in. On a $300,000 holding property that gap is about $1,900 or more a year, and neither city's rate helps your basis at acquisition: investment property gets no homestead exemption and no 10% homestead appraisal cap, so assessed value moves with the market every year the flip sits on your books. Run the same after-repair value through both tax stacks before you decide which side of I-20 to buy on, and talk to your CPA about how it hits your specific hold.

It's a real line item, and hail is the peril, not hurricane. Midland and Ector counties sit about 400 miles inland, so the Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, the coastal wind and hail pool, does not apply here; coverage comes from the private market, or the Texas FAIR Plan as a last resort. No county-level premium figure for Midland or Ector is published, but statewide, Texas homeowners premiums rose more than 55% from 2019 to 2024, with insurer rate filings up 21% in 2023, 19% in 2024, and 4.3% in 2025, and a 2% wind-and-hail deductible has become the standard structure across most of the state. Get an actual quote on the specific address before you close, since a vacant-dwelling or builder's-risk policy during the rehab period prices differently than an occupied one.

The entry price is lower, but check the exit and the tax line before you assume so. Odessa's July 2026 median list price was $300,495, down 5.6% year over year and effectively round-tripping a 2025 run-up, against Midland's $435,000, flat year over year and near its cycle high. Odessa's Zillow mid-tier home value is also the faster-appreciating of the two on a percentage basis (up 5.3% year over year versus Midland's 1.8%), but that is growth off a lower base ($256,364 versus $331,570), and it carries the heavier property tax stack described above. Active inventory is thin in both cities in absolute terms, 707 listings in Midland and 465 in Odessa as of July 2026, so comps are scarce; run ARV off subdivision-level comps, not the metro median, on either side of I-20.

There is no minimum score on this program. We do run credit, but on an asset-based loan like a Midland flip it carries far less weight than it would at a bank. The file is underwritten on the property, the rehab budget, and the after-repair value. Weaker credit is usually handled with lower leverage rather than a decline, so you bring a little more to closing instead of getting turned away. There is no hard credit pull to start the conversation. Subject to underwriting.

About 10% of the purchase, plus closing costs and a contingency. We fund up to 90% of the purchase price and up to 100% of the rehab budget, capped to ARV. Midland's July 2026 median list price was $435,000, so at that number it is up to $391,500 from us and $43,500 from you (435,000 x 90% = 391,500), with rehab drawn against the schedule instead of paid up front. The 6-month interest-only term means you carry payments while you work, and with median days on market at 46 in Midland, price the listing window into that carry. Subject to underwriting.

Yes. The floor is $100,000, and the program runs up to $5M. That minimum is worth checking on the Odessa side, where the July 2026 median list price was $300,495 against Midland's $435,000. A purchase in either range clears it, but a lower-priced house with a light rehab can land under the floor once you net out the numbers, so bring us the actual purchase price and rehab budget before you write the offer. Subject to underwriting.

First-time flippers are welcome on this program. We qualify the deal off the property and the equity, not off W-2s or pay stubs, and there is no minimum credit score on an asset-based loan like this one. What we look hardest at is the rehab budget and the after-repair value. Median days on market runs 46 in Midland and 47 in Odessa, so the exit window is about a month and a half in a normal market. Build that into the 6-month term rather than assuming you will list on day one. Subject to underwriting.