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San Diego Hard Money and Investor Loans

Whole-home rental licences here are capped by ordinance and handed out by lottery.

USA Mortgage funds investors across San Diego. District tax charges stack outside your assessed value. A military housing allowance sets the local rent floor. Business-purpose loans only, terms set in underwriting.

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You hear the decision from the people who underwrote your deal.

Short-term rental licences are capped and awarded by lottery

The City of San Diego caps whole-home Tier 3 short-term rental licences near 5,665, with 829 remaining as of mid-August 2026, and Tier 4 in Mission Beach was fully issued and now runs a lottery waitlist. A licence belongs to the host, not the property, and it does not transfer at closing.

Property tax and district charges are not one number

City of San Diego ad valorem rates run 1.03% to 1.28% of assessed value by tax rate area, and Proposition 13 resets the base to your purchase price, not the seller's. Chula Vista and eastern-county parcels can stack another $2,000 to $4,000 a year in Mello-Roos district charges the ad valorem rate never shows.

The Navy sets a rent floor across this metro

Defence spending topped $39 billion in San Diego County in FY2025, and the 2026 basic allowance for housing tops the metro's observed rent even at the most junior enlisted grade. Camp Pendleton, the Navy, and the Marine Corps anchor demand across the Pendleton corridor and the south and central bay.

Loan programs in San Diego

Acquisition through exit, all funded or arranged by one lender.

Fix and Flip in San DiegoRental / DSCR in San DiegoGround-Up Construction in San DiegoCRE Bridge in San DiegoTransactional Funding in San DiegoBank Statement / No-Doc in San DiegoConventional Investment in San DiegoPortfolio Loans in San DiegoCRE Permanent in San DiegoSBA Financing in San Diego

San Diego lending questions

Do you lend across all of San Diego County, not just the city?
Yes, across San Diego County. We fund deals in San Diego, Chula Vista, Oceanside, Escondido, El Cajon, Vista, National City, and Spring Valley, from the coastal core to the south bay and the inland east county. USA Mortgage is a direct, business-purpose lender headquartered in Bee Cave, Texas, funding deals with our own capital in most states. Every loan is business-purpose only and terms are subject to underwriting. See how we lend across California or talk to us.
Can I buy a San Diego rental and run it as a short-term rental?
Only if you can get a licence, and the whole-home tiers are capped. The City of San Diego caps whole-home Tier 3 short-term rental licences outside Mission Beach at 1% of the city's housing stock, with 4,836 issued and 829 remaining as of August 14, 2026; Tier 4, inside Mission Beach, was fully issued and now runs a lottery waitlist. Licences are not transferable between owners, a host may hold only one, and the property must operate as a short-term rental at least 90 days a year to keep the licence. Do not buy on the assumption a listing's existing licence transfers with the sale; it does not. See the fix and flip program. Subject to underwriting.
Can I underwrite a San Diego purchase off the seller's tax bill?
No. Proposition 13 resets the assessed value to your purchase price, and a house held since the 1990s can carry a fraction of what you will owe. On a $1,000,000 purchase in a typical City of San Diego tax rate area near 1.25%, the bill runs about $12,511 a year, roughly four times what the same house pays under a decades-old assessment. The county also issues a mid-year supplemental bill covering the gap between closing and the next regular installment. Pull the parcel's own tax rate area rate, which ranges 1.03% to 1.28% across the city alone, rather than trusting a listing's stated taxes. Talk to your CPA about your specific parcel. See portfolio loans. Subject to underwriting.
Does San Diego have rent control on my rental property?
Not a local price cap, but two layers still apply. The statewide AB 1482 cap limits annual increases to 5% plus regional CPI or 10%, whichever is lower, and for San Diego County that works out to 8.2% for the year beginning August 1, 2026. On top of that, the City of San Diego's own ordinance requires just cause for eviction from day one of a tenancy, with two to three months of relocation assistance owed on most no-fault terminations. The familiar single-family exemption narrows here: it is unavailable once title sits in an LLC, corporation, or REIT. Talk to your CPA or attorney before you set a rent increase or a notice to vacate. See the DSCR program. Subject to underwriting.
What is Mello-Roos, and where does it hit hardest in San Diego County?
A fixed annual charge for infrastructure bonds, separate from your ad valorem property tax and not capped by Proposition 13. Community Facilities District levies cluster in eastern Chula Vista and the newer master-planned areas of north county, and they stack: a single Otay Ranch parcel can carry a city improvement district, a maintenance district, a school district CFD, and open-space assessments on the same bill. Two to four thousand dollars a year of these charges on a Chula Vista or Harmony Grove parcel is ordinary, and none of it shows up in the ad valorem rate. Pull the parcel's actual tax bill for its fixed charges before you underwrite. See portfolio loans. Subject to underwriting.
What credit score do I need for an investor loan in San Diego?
It depends entirely on the program, and on our asset-based loans there is no minimum at all. Fix and flip, commercial bridge and ground-up construction are underwritten on the property, the budget and the exit; we run credit, but weaker credit is usually handled with lower leverage rather than a decline. DSCR and bank statement loans start at 640, conventional investment starts at 580, and transactional funding involves no credit check at all. There is no hard credit pull to start. See the fix and flip program. Subject to underwriting.
How much do I need to put down on a San Diego investment property?
Between nothing and about 25%, depending on which program fits the deal. Fix and flip funds up to 90% of purchase plus up to 100% of rehab, so on a $1,000,000 San Diego purchase that is $900,000 from us and $100,000 from you (1,000,000 x 90% = 900,000). DSCR and conventional go to 80% LTV, or $200,000 down on that same price. Commercial bridge goes to 75% LTV, construction to 85% of cost, and transactional funding covers up to 100% of the purchase on the A-to-B leg. Mid-tier value across this metro runs roughly $1,000,000, so the dollar figures here are larger than the percentages suggest. See the DSCR program. Subject to underwriting.

Sources: files.zillowstatic.com

Is there a minimum loan amount for a San Diego deal?
Yes, and it varies by program. Fix and flip, DSCR and bank statement loans start at $100,000, SBA at $350,000, and portfolio blanket loans at $500,000 across five or more properties. Ceilings matter more than floors in this county: DSCR and bank statement cap at $3,000,000, fix and flip and construction at $5,000,000, and commercial bridge at $10,000,000. At a metro mid-tier value near $1,000,000, a single door clears every floor we have. See portfolio loans. Subject to underwriting.

Sources: files.zillowstatic.com

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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 2026-08-15.

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