Fix and Flip in Tyler

Plan on about 1.63% of value inside Tyler city limits, or about 1.46% on an unincorporated parcel. The Tyler city investor stack works out to roughly 1.630751 per $100 of assessed value: Smith County 0.364231, City of Tyler 0.236452, Tyler ISD 0.845000 and Tyler Junior College 0.185068 (Texas Comptroller, tax year 2025). Investment property gets no homestead exemption or appraisal cap, so the full number hits from day one. The spread across submarkets is real money: an unincorporated Tyler ISD parcel runs about 1.463164, while a Bullard parcel runs about 2.165834, a difference of roughly $1,750 a year on a $250,000 basis. Smith County's own appraisal district (Smith CAD) publishes a rate table that stops at 2022, so check the county's Truth in Taxation portal or the Comptroller file for a current number, and note tax year 2026 rates were still being adopted as of this writing. Talk to your CPA about how the carry affects your specific hold period.

It's lower-cost and priced by the square foot, but the city doesn't publish a turnaround time. Under the City of Tyler's code, a residential alteration, addition or repair permits at $0.35 per square foot of the area affected, minimum $50, plus a 20% plan review fee. A 1,200 sq ft gut rehab works out to about $504; a 2,000 sq ft new build runs about $840. If the schedule matters more than the fee, Tyler also prices a paid expedited review at 300% of the normal permit fee plus $100 an hour, subject to staff availability. Build the permit step into your fix and flip loan's 6-month clock since the city doesn't publish a standard review timeline to plan against.

Only if the spread is made at purchase, not on appreciation. The Tyler MSA median list price was $370,250 in July 2026, down 1.3% from a year earlier and down 6.2% from the 2022 peak of $394,700, with median days on market at 66 and roughly 36% of active listings carrying a price cut. No Tyler-specific flip-return figure has been published, so the benchmark is the Texas statewide read: ATTOM counted 6,367 Texas flips in the first quarter of 2026, 9.9% of all sales, at an average gross profit of $15,965 and a 5.6% gross ROI, and that gross figure is resale against purchase only, before rehab, carry and financing. Basis is where the county earns its keep: Tyler runs a $255,430 mid-tier value and Arp, the lowest-cost stock in the county, runs $170,191 (both June 2026, Zillow), a real hunting ground for a flip candidate against that same flat, disciplined resale market. Run your numbers on the fix and flip calculator before you sign.

Values track the age and the submarket, and the spread between them is wide. Smith County's submarket home values (June 2026, Zillow) run from Arp at $170,191 up through Tyler $255,430, Whitehouse $290,533, Lindale $299,908 and Hideaway $351,357, with the Tyler city core itself down 0.8% year over year. That range gives a flipper room to shop the older, lower-cost stock in Tyler proper or Arp for a cosmetic-to-moderate rehab candidate while comping the exit against the higher-priced suburban stock in Lindale and Whitehouse. Rents are moving the other way: the metro's observed rent index rose 1.2% year over year to $1,426 a month while values slipped, so a flip that stalls has a workable rental fallback.

They can, and there's a lower-cost, standard fix. The East Texas Oilfield, discovered in 1930, reaches into southeastern Smith County, and Texas law makes the mineral estate dominant over the surface: the mineral owner can use the surface as reasonably necessary to explore, develop and produce, and the Railroad Commission generally won't referee a dispute between the two. Texas has a promulgated title product for exactly this situation: the Minerals and Surface Damage Endorsement (Form T-19.2) costs $50 on an owner's policy and $0 on a loan policy under the state's rate rules. Read the title commitment's Schedule B mineral exception before closing and ask whether the seller is reserving minerals under the standard TREC addendum. No data exists on how often Smith County parcels actually carry a severed mineral estate, so treat this as a closing item to check, not a given on every deal.

Nothing in the City of Tyler's code stops you, but confirm the tax posture before you list. A full-text search of the city's code of ordinances turns up no short-term rental permit, registration, density cap or zoning overlay as of the July 2026 codification. That said, Tyler does levy a 9% city hotel occupancy tax with a broad definition of "hotel" that could reach a whole-home rental, so a buyer running an STR exit should confirm HOT liability with the city before counting on it. With 66 median days on market and about a third of listings cutting price, an STR exit is a real option to keep open on a Tyler flip that doesn't move fast on resale, but it hasn't been tested by any city ruling that this file could find.

About 10% of the purchase, plus closing costs and a real contingency. We fund up to 90% of the purchase price and up to 100% of the rehab budget, capped to ARV. On a $250,000 Tyler purchase that is up to $225,000 from us and $25,000 from you (250,000 x 90% = 225,000), with the rehab drawn against the schedule instead of paid up front. Tyler's mid-tier value sat at $255,430 in June 2026 and homes are taking a median 66 days to sell, so carry a real contingency on top of the down payment. Loans run $100,000 to $5M on a 6-month interest-only term. Subject to underwriting.

Probably, at lower leverage. A fix and flip loan is underwritten on the property and the equity, so we run credit but there is no minimum score on this program and credit carries far less weight than it would at a bank. Weaker credit is usually met with a lower leverage number rather than a decline, which on a Tyler deal means bringing more than the 10% a full-leverage file would. There is no hard credit pull to start the conversation. Subject to underwriting.

No. The floor is $100,000 and the program runs to $5M, so an Arp buy clears it. That floor is worth checking in a market this affordable. Arp is the lowest-cost stock in Smith County at $170,191 and Tyler proper runs $255,430 (June 2026), so a normal purchase clears it comfortably, and the rehab budget is funded on top of the purchase rather than counted against it. A very low-basis distressed buy on its own can land under the floor, so send us the purchase price and the rehab number together. Subject to underwriting.

Yes. First-time flippers are welcome, and that resale pace is exactly what the buy has to absorb. We underwrite the deal before the resume: purchase price, rehab budget, and ARV, with up to 90% of purchase and up to 100% of rehab against that ARV cap. The thing that sinks a first Tyler flip is the buy, not the experience. Median list price is $370,250 and down 6.2% from the 2022 peak, with roughly 36% of active listings cutting price, so the spread has to be made at purchase rather than on appreciation. Subject to underwriting.