Hard Money Lenders in Iowa City, IA | Capital Kings LLC
Capital Kings LLC · Non-QM Mortgage Broker

Hard Money Lenders inIowa City, Iowa

Fix and flip, DSCR rental and new construction financing for Iowa City investors. We do not lend our own money, we shop your deal across a 400+ lender network and come back with real terms you can compare on total cost.

Get a term sheet →Price an Iowa City deal

Prefer to talk it through? Call or text Micah at (281) 636-5682.

Reviewed by Micah Foster, Founder & CEO, October 2026

Price an Iowa City deal right now

Prefilled with a realistic Iowa City deal. Change any number and it reprices on the programs that lend in Iowa, with the same math as our term sheets.

Sizing your flip on the same terms as the term sheet. Get a real term sheet →

Financing a deal in Iowa City

Iowa City is a college town in the full sense: the University of Iowa and its hospitals are the biggest employers, and they shape everything from who buys to which streets rent. The older neighborhoods near campus, Northside, Goosetown and Longfellow, are 1890s to 1930s houses on small lots, while the east and west sides fill out with 1950s to 70s ranches and splits. Prices here run higher than most of Iowa, but they dipped from a year ago, which matters for how we set an ARV.

Iowa City flips sort into two buyers. Faculty, doctors and hospital staff want a finished, character-rich house in Longfellow, Manville Heights or the Northside, and they pay for it. Everyone else, including first-time buyers and young families, shops the east side ranches and the west side splits. Student rental demand pulls a lot of the near-campus stock into investor hands, so a house that could go either way needs a decision up front: retail sale or long-term rental.

What an Iowa City deal looks like on paper

Iowa City example: $200,000 purchase, $60,000 rehab, $365,000 after repair value, 700 credit, first flip. The engine puts that borrower on the First Flip, 10% Down program at 9.99%. Think a 1950s ranch on the east side near Longfellow: roof, windows, a new kitchen, a refreshed bath plus a half bath, flooring and a dry, finished lower level. Every number below is what the instant term sheet prints for that deal, so the picture cannot contradict the page.

Loan amount$234,000
Cash to close$43,329
Proof of funds to show$71,217
Where the $43,329 goes
  • Down payment (10% of purchase plus rehab)You$26,000
  • Origination (2.13%)Lender$4,973
  • Lender fees (flat)Lender$2,790
  • Broker fee (1%)Broker$2,340
  • Title and closing (estimate at Texas rates)Title$3,492
  • Prepaid interest (15 days)Lender$714
  • Property insuranceInsurer$2,470
  • AppraisalAppraiser$550

Interest while you rehab: $1,449 a month on the $174,000 funded at closing, $1,948 once every draw is out. Proof of funds is cash to close plus $16,200 of rehab reserve and $11,688 of interest reserve. Sample borrower, sample address; the sheet is issued by the same engine as the borrower’s instant term sheet.

Fix and flip programs in Iowa City

Swipe the table for rates, credit and terms →

ProgramDown paymentMin creditExperienceRateOriginationMax loanTermClose
Experienced Investor Rate115% of purchase680+2+ completed flips9.00%0.75%75% of ARV12-24 months7-14 days
First Flip, 10% Down210% of purchase + rehab660+First flip OK9.99%2%75% of ARV12 months21-30 days
7.5% Down, 3+ Flips37.5% of purchase + rehab660+3+ completed flips9.99%1.5%75% of ARV12 months21-30 days
5% Down, 5+ Flips45% of purchase660+5+ completed flips9.99% to 10.99%2%75% of ARV9-24 months10-14 days
100% Financing, 2+ Flips50% (100% financing)620+2+ completed flips9.50% to 12.00%2.5%70% of ARV9 months7-14 days
  1. Rate and origination are the program floor; two completed projects in the last 36 months preferred.
  2. Rate 9.99% with 2% to 2.25% origination by credit; more origination buys the rate down as far as 8.99%. Loans under $150,000 add 0.5% to the rate and 0.5% to the origination, under $100,000 1.5% and 1%. Under 680 credit the loan caps at 87.5% of cost. Standard interest, charged only on funds drawn. The loan is capped at a share of purchase plus rehab, the full rehab held back for draws, and the ARV must be at least 1.25 times purchase plus rehab. Processing $500, legal $1,495 and underwriting $795.
  3. Rate 9.99% with 1.5% to 1.75% origination by credit; more origination buys the rate down as far as 8.99%. Loans under $150,000 add 0.5% to the rate and 0.5% to the origination, under $100,000 1.5% and 1%. Under 680 credit the loan caps at 90% of cost. Standard interest, charged only on funds drawn. The loan is capped at a share of purchase plus rehab, the full rehab held back for draws, and the ARV must be at least 1.25 times purchase plus rehab. Processing $500, legal $1,495 and underwriting $795.
  4. Rate is set per file from 9.99%; origination about 2% plus a $995 processing fee.
  5. Needs 2 completed flips in the last two years and about $75,000 in verified liquidity. Rate 9.5% to 12% with 2% to 3% origination, set per file. Purchase plus rehab must fit under 70% of ARV.

Origination has a $2,000 minimum on most programs (a few lenders set a higher one, noted above) and our broker fee is 1% with a $2,000 minimum and a $10,000 maximum. These are the numbers our term sheets use as of October 2026. Strong credit, cash and a track record can price lower through specific lenders in the network.

Where Iowa City prices sit right now

Before we price an Iowa City flip, we look at where sales in the city sit today. Your block can run well above or below these numbers, so treat them as the starting point, not the answer.

Redfin puts the Iowa City median sale price at $300,000 for the three months ending September 2026, down 7.7% on a year earlier, with homes selling in around 28 days.

Median sale price, Iowa City (Redfin, 3 months to Sep 2026)$300,000
Change from a year earlier (Redfin)-7.7%
Days on market, Iowa City (Redfin)28

Sources: Redfin, Iowa City housing market

How an Iowa City file actually gets priced

Because the citywide median slipped over the past year, we weight the most recent renovated sales and don’t lean on last spring’s peak. Johnson County appraisers comp by neighborhood and school, and a Manville Heights sale won’t carry an east side ranch. Iowa doesn’t allow private title insurance, so title work runs through an abstract, an attorney’s opinion and Iowa Title Guaranty, which adds a step to the schedule. On older houses near campus, we want the foundation and mechanicals inspected before we finalize the scope.

The Iowa River flooded in 2008, swamping parts of campus and low neighborhoods along the river, and the city later bought out homes in the worst areas. Ralston Creek runs through the east side and has its own flood history. Check the floodplain on anything low. Iowa City requires a rental permit and inspection for any rented house, and it limits how many unrelated people can live together, which matters if your exit becomes a student rental. Parts of the Northside and Longfellow fall inside historic or conservation districts with exterior review. An April 2006 tornado tore through town, and roofs replaced after it are now aging.

Who buys your finished Iowa City deal

The finished Iowa City house sells to a university or hospital employee, a graduate student’s family, or a local buyer moving up. These buyers are careful and inspection-minded, so mechanicals, windows and a dry basement matter more than flashy finishes. Coralville and North Liberty offer newer construction nearby, so price against them honestly. If the sale stalls, a rental is a real exit, but plan for the permit, the inspection and the occupancy rules before you choose it.

What happens after you apply

Apply once and the whole Iowa City loan lives in the borrower portal: the term sheet you can accept and sign in the browser, where the loan stands, one place for documents, and the list of what the lender is still waiting on. These are real screens from the portal.

Capital Kings borrower portal: Welcome to your file
Welcome to your fileSign in and the term sheet is waiting, with every fee and who it goes to.
Capital Kings borrower portal: Where the loan stands
Where the loan standsApplication, appraisal, title, underwriting, clear to close.
Capital Kings borrower portal: Run the deal again
Run the deal againThe analyzer priced off your real numbers, before and after the appraisal.
Capital Kings borrower portal: What the lender still needs
What the lender still needsEvery open condition, what clears it, and who it is waiting on.

The full walkthrough is on how it works, and you can tour the borrower portal before you apply.

What we fund in Iowa City

Fix and flip

10%down on a first flip
Rates
from 9.00% at 680+ credit with 2+ completed flips
With experience
0% down with 2+ completed flips, purchase plus rehab under 70% of ARV
Rehab
100% funded, paid in draws
Fix and flip loans in Iowa →

Rental (DSCR)

7.00%rates from, 30-year fixed
Qualify on
the rent, no W-2s or tax returns
Down
from 20% at 700+ credit
Good for
buy-and-hold, and the refinance when a flip becomes a rental
DSCR loans in Iowa →

New construction

95%of cost with a financed interest reserve, after 1 completed build
Rates
from 8.49% with 5+ completed builds
First build
85% of cost with a GC who has 5+ builds
Builds
single family to small multifamily
New construction loans in Iowa →

Where we lend in Iowa City

We broker deals across the whole Iowa City market. The submarkets investors ask us about most are Longfellow and the southeast side (52240), Northside and Goosetown (52245), Manville Heights and the west side (52246), Towncrest and the east side (52240), Downtown and College Green (52240) and West side near the hospitals (52246).

How long does a Iowa City loan take to fund?

You send the address, purchase price, rehab budget and your ARV, which takes about five minutes and no credit pull. We take it to the lenders in our network that fit it and are licensed in Iowa, and the rate, origination, leverage and cash to close come back side by side. Plan on 7-14 days with completed flips and 21-30 days on a first flip. We stay on title and the lender through funding.

Iowa City hard money FAQ

Do you lend hard money in Iowa City?
Yes. Capital Kings is a broker, not a direct lender, so we shop your Iowa City scenario across a 400+ lender network and bring back real terms instead of one lender’s rate sheet. The programs on this page are the ones whose lenders are licensed in Iowa, and the numbers come from the same engine that prices our instant term sheet.
Which fix and flip programs apply in Iowa City?
As of October 2026: Experienced Investor Rate (15% down, from 9.00%, 2+ completed flips); First Flip, 10% Down (10% down, from 9.99%); 7.5% Down, 3+ Flips (7.5% down, from 9.99%, 3+ completed flips); 5% Down, 5+ Flips (5% down, from 9.99%, 5+ completed flips); 100% Financing, 2+ Flips (100% financing when purchase plus rehab fits under 70% of ARV, from 9.50%, 2+ completed flips). Rehab is funded 100 percent in draws on every one of them, and we shop the file against the rest of the network before anything is signed.
How fast can an Iowa City hard money loan close?
In Iowa, once the file is complete, the programs for investors with completed flips close in 7-14 days (10-14 on 5% down with 5+ flips, 21-30 on 7.5% down with 3+ flips) and a first flip on the 10% down program closes in 21-30 days. The biggest delays are usually title issues or missing borrower documents, so getting those started early makes a big difference.
How much do I need to bring to close on an Iowa City flip?
The worked example on this page is a $200,000 Iowa City purchase with a $60,000 rehab and a $365,000 after repair value at 700 credit, first flip: $26,000 down (10% of purchase plus rehab) and $43,329 total cash to close, with $71,217 of proof of funds to show the lender. Investors with a track record can go to 0% down (100% financing) from 9.50% at 620+ credit with 2+ completed flips, when purchase plus rehab fits under 70% of ARV, and you still bring the closing costs in cash. Rehab is funded 100 percent through draws in every case. Run your own numbers in the calculator above, or send us the deal and we will price it.
Do you fund the rehab budget in Iowa City?
Yes, 100 percent of the rehab is funded, but it is a holdback released in draws rather than cash at closing. You pay for each phase, request a draw, an inspector verifies the work, and the lender reimburses. That means you need working capital to float the first phase, which is the single most common thing new investors miss on their first deal.
What credit score do I need for an Iowa City fix and flip loan?
The lowest credit floor among the Iowa City programs is 620, on 100% financing (under 70% of ARV) with 2+ completed flips. A first flip needs 660 or higher. The lowest rate here, 9.00%, needs 680+ credit and 2+ completed flips. Depending on the program, origination steps down at 700 and 740. Credit matters less here than on a conventional loan because the deal carries the file, but it moves your rate and your leverage, so know where you stand before you make offers.
Can I refinance an Iowa City flip into a rental loan?
Yes. That is the BRRRR exit, and it is the most common way an Iowa City flip becomes a hold. A DSCR loan qualifies on the property’s rental income rather than your W-2, so once the rehab is done and it is leased, you refinance out of the short-term hard money loan into 30-year financing. Worth deciding before you start, because it changes what finish level makes sense.
Can I get a hard money loan for a first flip in Iowa City?
Yes. In Iowa a first flip can be priced at 10% down with 660+ credit (from 9.99%). The example above is priced as a first deal on an east side ranch. Iowa City prices are high enough that the loan clears program minimums easily, but the market softened over the past year, so we size the ARV on recent sales only.
Should I flip or rent a house near the University of Iowa?
Run both plans. Near-campus houses rent easily, but Iowa City’s rental permit, inspection and occupancy rules shape what you can charge and how many tenants you can have. A retail flip to a faculty or hospital buyer often wins in Longfellow and the Northside. Send us the address and both plans, and we’ll price the flip and the DSCR refinance side by side.
Micah Foster
Micah Foster
Founder & CEO, Capital Kings LLC
Micah brokers Non-QM and hard money loans for real estate investors across 38 states from his base in Texas. He founded Capital Kings to give investors a broker who shops the market on their behalf instead of pitching one lender product.

What to read before you sign a term sheet

Hard money near Iowa City: Cedar Rapids, Davenport and Des Moines. More Iowa city guides: Sioux City. Or see everything we fund in Iowa.

Ready to fund your Iowa City deal?

Submit your scenario in about 5 minutes. We shop it and come back with real terms, not a generic rate sheet.

Start application →Get a pre-approval letter