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St. Louis Hard Money and Investor Loans

Two-to-four unit brick is the ordinary deal inside the city limits.

USA Mortgage funds investors across the St. Louis metro. The city and county run separate tax and ordinance rules. Vacant city buildings carry real repair and registration liabilities. Loans are business-purpose only, subject to underwriting.

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We fund with our own capital and never outsource the decision.

Two-to-four unit brick is the normal deal in the city

City of St. Louis 2-4 unit originations ran 692 loans in 2023, or 15.3 percent of all 1-4 unit lending, versus 1.6 percent in St. Louis County. That share held within a tenth of a point into 2024. No other Missouri metro comes close.

Landing in the wrong tax subclass roughly doubles the bill

City of St. Louis residential rentals assess at 19 percent and pay 1.556 percent of market value in 2025; commercial parcels assess at 32 percent and pay 3.121 percent, plus a surcharge residential rentals do not owe. In St. Louis County the municipal levy itself also differs by subclass, up to 4.5 times higher in Maplewood on the levy alone.

The land bank, not the MLS, is where city rehab inventory starts

The city's Land Reutilization Authority holds roughly 9,000 parcels, about 85 percent vacant lots, and resumed taking offers in August 2025 after pausing for tornado damage assessment. Its Prop NS track requires rehab to city occupancy standards within 24 months of sale.

Loan programs in St. Louis

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

Fix and Flip in St. LouisRental / DSCR in St. LouisGround-Up Construction in St. LouisCRE Bridge in St. LouisTransactional Funding in St. LouisBank Statement / No-Doc in St. LouisConventional Investment in St. LouisPortfolio Loans in St. LouisCRE Permanent in St. LouisSBA Financing in St. Louis

St. Louis lending questions

Should I treat the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County as one market?
No, treat them as two separate jurisdictions that happen to share a name. The city and the county run separate assessors, separate tax collectors, separate tax-sale statutes (chapter 92 in the city, chapter 140 in the county), and separate occupancy and ordinance regimes. The city alone carries a 1 percent earnings tax the county does not. Confirm which jurisdiction a parcel sits in before you underwrite it, and never assume a city rule reaches a county suburb or the reverse. Subject to underwriting.
Can I run a legal short-term rental in the City of St. Louis right now?
Not with any certainty, because enforcement is under a court order. Ordinance 71729 requires natural-person applicants, caps non-owner-occupied units at four permits, and bars a permit on any parcel receiving a tax abatement, but the city's own permit page states a court has prohibited the city from enforcing it. That means the rule is on the books, unenforced today, and could become enforceable again on a ruling nobody can schedule. Check the current enforcement status before you underwrite a short-term rental exit, and talk to your attorney. Apply now. Subject to underwriting.
Does my St. Louis rental owe the city's 1 percent earnings tax?
If the property sits inside the City of St. Louis, assume it is a filing question and confirm with the Collector of Revenue. The city's Form E-234 reaches any LLC that maintains a business or professional office, warehouse, or conducts business within the city, but no city statement locates rental income specifically as taxable business earnings for a passive out-of-state landlord. St. Louis County has no earnings tax at all. Crossing the city line into the county removes the question entirely. Talk to your CPA before you close. Subject to underwriting.
How did the 2025 tornado change underwriting on north St. Louis city property?
It made insurance status part of every diligence checklist, not an afterthought. An EF3 tornado crossed north St. Louis city on May 16, 2025, damaging or destroying roughly 5,000 properties, and the Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance recorded nearly 9,000 claims from the event with a projected ultimate of $330 million. Homeowners were still contesting payouts as of November 2025. On damaged collateral, confirm the roof claim actually closed and no supplement is pending, and note that standard commercial property forms typically suspend theft and water-damage coverage after about 60 days of vacancy. Subject to underwriting.
Why does a direct lender fit the St. Louis market better than a bank?
Because this metro is really two rulebooks, and a bank underwrites neither quickly. The city and the county run different assessors, different tax-sale statutes, and different ordinance regimes, and even inside the county each municipality sets its own occupancy rules. A file that crosses Clayton, Florissant, and the city in one portfolio needs a lender who reads all three, not one who defaults to a template. We fund with our own capital, so a well-structured deal does not wait on an outside committee. Talk to us. Subject to underwriting.
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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.

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