San Mateo Hard Money and Investor Loans

Yes, across all eight cities we serve on the Peninsula. We fund deals in San Mateo, Redwood City, Burlingame, Menlo Park, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Foster City, and Millbrae. We're headquartered in Bee Cave, Texas, and every loan is business-purpose only, on investment property, with terms subject to underwriting. See how we lend across California or talk to us.

No, and the differences matter for underwriting. East Palo Alto is the county's only rent stabilization jurisdiction, with a Rent Stabilization Program dating to 2010. The city of San Mateo added an 11-month just cause threshold under Ordinance 2025-11, effective December 31, 2025, one month earlier than state law; it repeals automatically on January 1, 2030 unless readopted. Redwood City's Tenant Protection Ordinance took effect January 1, 2026, and voters decide a separate rent stabilization measure on November 3, 2026. Menlo Park relies on state law plus its own tenant relocation ordinance. East Palo Alto is the county's only rent stabilization jurisdiction; in Burlingame, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Foster City, and Millbrae we found no local ordinance to cite either way, so read the statewide AB 1482 cap as the baseline and confirm the address. Talk to your attorney or CPA before underwriting a specific unit. Subject to underwriting.

It varies, and one city is very different from the other seven. The county's base documentary transfer tax is $0.55 per $500, or $1.10 per $1,000, and that is the only rate in Redwood City, Burlingame, Menlo Park, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Foster City, and Millbrae. The City of San Mateo adds its own Measure CC tax on top: 0.5 percent of the whole price below $10 million, and 1.5 percent at $10 million or more, applied to the full price rather than the excess over the threshold. Crossing that $10 million line inside San Mateo city limits adds $100,000 in city tax alone. Model the exit inside city limits separately from the rest of the county. Subject to underwriting. See the fix and flip program.

Rent barely tracks price, and the gap runs the opposite direction of what most investors expect. As of July 2026, home values ranged from about $1,016,700 in East Palo Alto to $2,890,000 in Menlo Park, while rents across those same cities clustered in a narrow band from roughly $3,338 to $4,349. That produces a north-south yield split: South San Francisco and San Bruno run close to double the gross rental yield of Burlingame and Menlo Park on the same rent-to-value math. This is also the highest average loan size county we track: about 6,470 originations reported in 2023 at roughly a $1,086,000 average. Deals here get won on loan size and speed more than on price per door. Subject to underwriting. See the DSCR program.

Because both the loan sizes and the rulebook change from city to city, and a bank underwrites neither quickly. At an average loan size near $1,086,000 in 2023, the highest of any county we track, a deal here is won on speed and structure, not on shaving basis points. A single portfolio can span East Palo Alto's rent stabilization, San Mateo's 11-month just cause threshold, and Redwood City's pending rent measure, and each city needs its own read before close. We fund with our own capital, so a well-structured deal does not wait on a committee outside the market. Subject to underwriting. Talk to us.