Capital Kings LLC · Non-QM Mortgage Broker

Hard Money Lenders inDes Moines, Iowa

Fix and flip, DSCR rental and new construction financing for Des Moines 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.

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

Reviewed by Micah Foster, Founder & CEO, September 2026

Price a Des Moines deal right now

Prefilled with a realistic Des Moines 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 Des Moines

Des Moines is a steady, insurance-and-banking town where a flip is usually a 1920s to 1950s brick or frame house with a basement, sold to a first-time buyer who works downtown or in the suburbs. Prices here don’t swing hard in either direction, which is good for planning and bad for anyone hoping appreciation bails out a thin buy. The worked example here is an investor with a few finished projects, but a first flip can be financed too. In Iowa a first flip can be priced at 10% down with 660+ credit (from 9.99%). Programs that need completed flips: 15% down from 9.00% with 2+ flips; 7.5% down from 9.99% with 3+ flips; 5% down from 9.99% with 5+ flips; and 100% financing from 9.50% with 2+ flips when purchase plus rehab fits under 70% of ARV.

What decides a Des Moines deal is the basement and the neighborhood line. Almost every older house on the north and east sides sits over a block or clay-tile foundation that has seen decades of freeze and thaw, and a wet or bowed wall can swallow the budget you meant for the kitchen. Get a foundation contractor through before you close. The second thing is geography: Beaverdale brick sells to a different buyer than Capitol East frame, and a finished house priced off the wrong side of I-235 or the Des Moines River sits. Buy under the block, fix the dry basement first, and finish to what the street already supports.

What a Des Moines deal looks like on paper

Des Moines example: $138,000 purchase, $50,000 rehab, $260,000 after repair value, 700 credit, 4+ completed flips. The engine puts that borrower on the 7.5% Down, 3+ Flips program at 9.99%. Picture a 1940s story-and-a-half near Beaverdale: new roof, a kitchen, a bath added upstairs, basement waterproofing and a panel. Every number below is what the instant term sheet prints for that deal, so the picture cannot contradict the page.

Loan amount$173,900

Cash to close$27,756

Proof of funds to show$49,942

Where the $27,756 goes

Down payment (7.5% of purchase plus rehab)You$14,100
Origination (1.63%)Lender$2,826
Lender fees (flat)Lender$2,790
Broker fee (1%)Broker$2,000
Title and closing (estimate at Texas rates)Title$3,195
Prepaid interest (15 days)Lender$509
Property insuranceInsurer$1,786
AppraisalAppraiser$550

Interest while you rehab: $1,031 a month on the $123,900 funded at closing, $1,448 once every draw is out. Proof of funds is cash to close plus $13,500 of rehab reserve and $8,686 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 Des Moines

Swipe the table for rates, credit and terms →

Program	Down payment	Min credit	Experience	Rate	Origination	Max loan	Term	Close
Experienced Investor Rate¹	15% of purchase	680+	2+ completed flips	9.00%	0.75%	75% of ARV	12-24 months	7-14 days
First Flip, 10% Down²	10% of purchase + rehab	660+	First flip OK	9.99%	2%	75% of ARV	12 months	21-30 days
7.5% Down, 3+ Flips³	7.5% of purchase + rehab	660+	3+ completed flips	9.99%	1.5%	75% of ARV	12 months	21-30 days
5% Down, 5+ Flips⁴	5% of purchase	660+	5+ completed flips	9.99% to 10.99%	2%	75% of ARV	9-24 months	10-14 days
100% Financing, 2+ Flips⁵	0% (100% financing)	620+	2+ completed flips	9.50% to 12.00%	2.5%	70% of ARV	9 months	7-14 days

Rate and origination are the program floor; two completed projects in the last 36 months preferred.
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.
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.
Rate is set per file from 9.99%; origination about 2% plus a $995 processing fee.
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 Des Moines prices sit right now

Before we price a Des Moines 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 Des Moines median sale price at $227,000 for the three months ending August 2026, about 3% above a year earlier, with homes selling in around 24 days. Zillow’s home value index for the city is $210,572, flat over the year. The east and south side pockets sit well under that: Zillow puts Capitol East at $143,766, Capitol Park at $149,762 and Indianola Hills at $182,416, while Sherman Hill runs $302,118.

Median sale price, Des Moines (Redfin, 3 months to Aug 2026)	$227,000
Days on market, Des Moines (Redfin)	24
Zillow home value index, Des Moines (Aug 2026)	$210,572
Zillow home value index, Capitol East	$143,766
Zillow home value index, Indianola Hills	$182,416
Zillow home value index, Sherman Hill	$302,118

Sources: Redfin, Des Moines housing market, Zillow, Des Moines home values, City of Des Moines, rental inspections, City of Des Moines, levee improvements and FEMA rating

How a Des Moines file actually gets priced

Appraisers in Polk County comp tightly by neighborhood, and the city’s named neighborhoods are small, so we set the ARV on closed sales inside the same neighborhood from the last 90 days whenever the count allows. A Beaverdale comp won’t carry a Highland Park house two miles east. We look at finished square footage carefully, because appraisers here give a finished basement a fraction of the value of above-grade space, and a flip that counts the lower level at full price will miss. For Iowa files the lender also wants proof of your completed projects, so have addresses, HUDs or settlement statements, and photos ready.

The rivers are the known risk. The Des Moines and Raccoon both flooded in 1993 and again in 2008, when a levee failure put water through the Birdland area north of downtown, and the city has been rebuilding the levee system since. Northeast neighborhoods along Fourmile Creek flash-flooded in July 2024. Pull the flood map on anything low near a creek. Every house not lived in by its owner needs a city rental certificate and an inspection through Neighborhood Inspections, which matters if your exit turns into a hold. Iowa sits in a high-radon region, so a mitigation system is a cheap line to budget, and hail replaces roofs here often enough to make the roof age a question on every file.

Who buys your finished Des Moines deal

The finished Des Moines house mostly goes to a first-time buyer on an FHA or conventional loan, often someone moving up from an apartment downtown or coming in from Minneapolis or Chicago for a lower cost of living. That buyer shops Beaverdale, Drake and the south side, and they compare your house to suburban new construction in Ankeny, Waukee and Altoona, so the finish needs to feel clean and dry, not flashy. Rental demand is steady, so a DSCR refinance is a real fallback when a south side or east side house rents well. Prices move slowly, so plan the exit on today’s comps, not on next year.

What happens after you apply

Apply once and the whole Des Moines 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 file**Sign 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 stands**Application, appraisal, title, underwriting, clear to close.

Capital Kings borrower portal: Run the deal again — **Run the deal again**The analyzer priced off your real numbers, before and after the appraisal.

Capital Kings borrower portal: What the lender still needs — **What the lender still needs**Every 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 Des Moines

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 Des Moines

We broker deals across the whole Des Moines market. The submarkets investors ask us about most are Beaverdale and Merle Hay (50310), Drake and Sherman Hill (50311 / 50314), Highland Park and Oak Park (50313), Capitol East and Capitol Park (50316), East Side and Fairmont Park (50317) and South Side, Indianola Hills and Fort Des Moines (50315).

How long does a Des Moines 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.

Des Moines hard money FAQ

Do you lend hard money in Des Moines?

Yes. Capital Kings is a broker, not a direct lender, so we shop your Des Moines 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 Des Moines?

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 a Des Moines 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 a Des Moines flip?

The worked example on this page is a $138,000 Des Moines purchase with a $50,000 rehab and a $260,000 after repair value at 700 credit, 4+ completed flips: $14,100 down (7.5% of purchase plus rehab) and $27,756 total cash to close, with $49,942 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 Des Moines?

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 a Des Moines fix and flip loan?

The lowest credit floor among the Des Moines 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 a Des Moines flip into a rental loan?

Yes. That is the BRRRR exit, and it is the most common way a Des Moines 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 on my first flip in Des Moines?

Yes. In Iowa a first flip can be priced at 10% down with 660+ credit (from 9.99%). The example on this page is an investor with four to ten finished deals on a lower down payment program; set the calculator to “This is my first” and it reprices the same Des Moines deal as a first flip. A partner with experience or a contractor with a real track record still helps the file.

Does a finished basement count toward my Des Moines ARV?

Only partly. Appraisers here value below-grade space at a fraction of the main floors, even when it’s nicely finished, and many older Des Moines basements are too low or too damp to count as living area at all. Spend there to keep it dry and usable, not to push the ARV. Put the money into the kitchen, baths and a second bathroom above grade, which is what the buyer and the appraisal both reward.

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

Ready to fund your Des Moines deal?

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