Hard Money Lenders Washington State: 1,695 Loans, Law, REET (2025)

What the 2025 federal record shows for Washington investors

Washington hard money pages usually list lenders that advertise. The federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) file lists loans that were made, with the note rate. We used the FFIEC and CFPB Data Browser file of Washington originations for 2025: 175,441 loans, of which 142,796 were conventional. Of those, 11,793 were on investment property, and 8,858 of them were marked as made for a business or commercial purpose.

HMDA has no “hard money” field. We use the proxy of our other state pages, such as Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania: conventional, first lien, 1-4 units, closed-end, investment property, business purpose, no debt-to-income ratio, which leaves 7,125 loans. Of those, 1,791 had a term of 360 months or more (rental and DSCR loans; see our DSCR lender ranking) and 1,701 had a term of 36 months or less. We set aside 6 short-term entries with a 30-month term, all from one lender (Emporium TPO) whose median rate (7.058%) looks like a 30-year loan keyed in the wrong unit, which leaves 1,695. Our national rate page counts all 1,701 for Washington; the median is 10.5% either way.

Washington short-term business-purpose investor loans, 2025 (HMDA, our filter)

The loans are mostly purchases on single houses. The median loan-to-value on the 1,274 loans that report it was 68%. By purpose, 1,111 were purchases, 167 rate-and-term refinances, 54 cash-out refinances, 27 home improvement loans and 336 “other.” The term is 12 months on 967 loans (57.1%), 6 months on 320 (18.9%), 15 months on 116, 5 months on 102, 18 months on 54 and 24 months on 48. A total of 1,576 of the 1,695 were on one-unit properties and 119 on two to four units; 1,581 were submitted directly to the lender and 114 came through a broker or correspondent.

Two fields in this file say more about structure than the rate does. HMDA reports 1,491 of the 1,695 loans (88.0%) as interest-only and 1,502 (88.6%) with a balloon payment, which is the shape of a bridge loan: interest each month, principal at the end. And the file cannot tell you the cost: points and fees are reported as not applicable on all but 9 of the loans (those 9 say “Exempt”), and no loan reports a prepayment penalty term. Use our hard money loan calculator to turn a quote into a total cost, and read our page on extension, default interest and points before you sign.

The public file rounds every loan amount to the midpoint of a $10,000 band, so a reported $445,000 is a loan between $440,000 and $449,999. The loans are large for hard money: only 17 of the 1,695 were under $100,000, while 275 (16.2%) were $1,000,000 or more. That is a Puget Sound price level, not a small-town one, and it changes who the lenders are.

Who made the loans

Largest lenders of Washington short-term investor loans, 2025 (HMDA, names from the FFIEC 2025 filer list)

Thirty-eight lenders reported at least one loan, the two largest made 43.8% and the ten largest 90.0%. Banks are nearly absent: 41 of the 1,695 loans (2.4%) came from lenders whose name reads as a bank or credit union (our name rule, not an official classification; we leave out the word “trust” because it would count Merchants Mortgage & Trust, a private lender). The table is the reported record, not a recommendation of any lender. We have reviews of Rain City Capital, Kiavi, Conventus Lending, Genesis Capital, Anchor Loans, Lima One Capital and Loan Funder.

The statewide median is the Eastside Funding median in disguise. Of Eastside's 416 loans, 308 (74.0%) were priced at exactly 12%, and 359 (86.3%) had a term of five or six months. Take Eastside out and the other 1,279 loans have a median of 10.25% (on the 1,199 that report a rate), with the 75th percentile at 11%. The effect is sharpest in the middle of the size range: of 392 loans from $100,000 to $299,999, Eastside made 165, and the median for the other 227 is 10.5% against 12% for all 392. At the other end, Genesis Capital made 81 of the 275 loans of $1,000,000 or more. The table shows the rate falling as the loan grows, because the lenders differ, not only because bigger loans are safer.

Short-term investor loans by loan size, 2025 (HMDA, our filter; median rate shown for bands with 20 or more loans)

Of the 1,695 borrowers, 915 (54.0%) were entities and 780 natural persons; the median rate was 10.69% for entities and 10.5% for people. That mix matters for the interest law below: in Michigan 94.9% of the same loans went to entities, in Washington only just over half.

Kiavi pays us a referral fee when a loan closes through its button below. It belongs in a Washington box because the 2025 federal file shows it as the state's third-largest short-term investor lender, with 234 loans, 13.8% of the total, and 97.4% of them (228) with a 12-month term. Lima One Capital and Visio Lending pay us nothing; Lima One made 25 short-term loans in Washington and Visio's affiliate Investor Mortgage Finance LLC (our label from earlier pages) none, though it reported 27 Washington 30-year loans. Compare Kiavi with Lima One before you choose.

Seattle and the rest of the state

HMDA names the county, not the city, so Seattle sits inside King County's numbers together with Bellevue and the suburbs. One caution before the table: 385 of the 1,695 loans (22.7%) report no county, and they come from three lenders that report no location on any of their loans here: Rain City Capital (252 of its 327), Pacific Equity and Loan (66 of 66) and Anchor Loans (52 of 52). County figures cover the other 1,310 loans and understate those lenders.

Short-term investor loans by county, 2025 (HMDA, our filter; median rate shown for counties with 20 or more loans)

Thirty-two counties had at least one loan, and the four largest (King, Pierce, Snohomish and Spokane) had 995 of the 1,310 (76.0%). The five Puget Sound counties (King, Pierce, Snohomish, Kitsap and Thurston) had 1,043 loans (79.6%) at a median of 10.75% and $495,000, against 267 loans elsewhere at 10.5% and $315,000. In King County, Kiavi made 61 of the 529 loans (11.5%), the other lenders 468; the middle half ran from 9% to 11.99%, and 190 King County loans were $1,000,000 or more. The picture is two markets: a Seattle and Eastside market of large loans priced near 10%, and a Tacoma, Kitsap and Olympia market of smaller loans priced at 12%, where Eastside Funding made 115 of its loans in Pierce County alone. Our Rain City Capital review covers the lender with the most unreported counties.

Washington's interest law, read against the 2025 rates

Washington does not cap what a business lender can charge on an investor loan, and the statutes say so in plain words. We read the text and compare it with what the lenders reported. This is not legal advice.

Washington rate and licensing rules a hard money loan can meet (statute text saved October 23, 2026)

Two numbers from the 2025 record matter. First, 437 of the 1,615 loans with a reported rate (27.1%) were priced at exactly 12%, and 108 (6.7%) above it, up to 14.375%. Twelve percent is the first figure in the general ceiling of RCW 19.52.020 (the higher of 12% or the Treasury-bill formula), so the pricing sits at the line that would bind a consumer loan; HMDA does not say why lenders chose it. Second, 780 of the 1,695 loans (46.0%) went to natural persons, and 53 of the 108 loans above 12% were to people rather than entities. HMDA marks all of them as business-purpose loans, and RCW 19.52.080 turns on whether a transaction is “primarily” for investment or business purposes, a question of facts that the data cannot answer. We do not claim any loan is unlawful. If you sign personally for a flip, expect the lender to document that the purpose is business, and keep that paper.

Licensing: purpose decides again

The text points the same way in every statute we read: a loan primarily for personal, family or household use is regulated, and a business-purpose loan is not. The Consumer Loan Act excludes loans “primarily for business, commercial, or agricultural purposes” unless the loan is secured by a lien on the borrower's primary dwelling (RCW 31.04.025(4)(e)). The Mortgage Broker Practices Act defines its residential mortgage loan by the same personal, family or household test (RCW 19.146.010(19)), and requires a licence to engage in the business of a mortgage broker or loan originator unless an exemption applies (RCW 19.146.200(1)). So a loan to an LLC to buy and renovate a house for sale or rent is outside these definitions on the text, and a loan to you personally on a house you will live in is inside them. We did not read the whole Washington code or find guidance from the Department of Financial Institutions to save, so we state no more than the text. Check any lender's licences in the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System, and see our private money lender page on who funds the loan.

Foreclosure: trustee's sale, no redemption

A deed of trust conveys real property to a trustee to secure a loan, and it “may be foreclosed by trustee's sale” (RCW 61.24.020), which requires among other things that the deed contain a power of sale (61.24.030(1)). One exception: the deed of trust must state that the property is not used principally for agricultural purposes, and if that is false when the deed was granted and again at the sale, the deed “must be foreclosed judicially” (61.24.030(2)). For the loans in this page the practical questions are the timeline, the cure right and what the lender can still collect.

Washington foreclosure by trustee's sale (statute text saved October 23, 2026)

On our arithmetic, the shortest legal path from the notice of default to the sale is 120 days, 30 plus 90, and the statute's own wording for the notice of default says the property “may be sold at public auction at a date no less than 120 days in the future.” The 150-day version applies to borrowers who must receive the pre-default letter, which is a residential, consumer-loan rule. A flipper who falls behind has until 11 days before the sale to cure, and none after it. A lender on a commercial loan keeps only limited deficiency rights against the borrower after the sale and, if the notices were given, against a guarantor (RCW 61.24.100(3)(c)). Washington has no statutory redemption period after a trustee's sale, unlike Michigan's six months or a year in our Michigan page; a borrower who wants to stop a sale must restrain it in court before the sale on a proper legal or equitable ground, and the court requires payments to the clerk as a condition (RCW 61.24.130). We did not save a statewide count of Washington foreclosure sales or timelines from the courts or counties, so we give none.

What the excise tax adds to a flip

Washington taxes the sale of real property with a state real estate excise tax (REET) that has been graduated since January 1, 2020, plus a local REET. The tax “is the obligation of the seller” (RCW 82.45.080(1)); the Department of Revenue says the seller usually pays, “but if they don't, the buyer is responsible,” and unpaid tax can become a lien on the property. A flipper pays it at the exit. A deed to a buyer is a sale, and so is the transfer within any 36-month period of a controlling interest in an entity that owns Washington real estate (RCW 82.45.010(2)(a)); the Department defines a controlling interest as 50% or more. Selling the LLC instead of the deed does not avoid the tax.

The statute sets the slices (RCW 82.45.060(1)(b)) and tells the Department to adjust them every fourth year for the shelter component of the consumer price index, up to 5% (82.45.060(2)). The Department's page shows the current table, in force for sales since January 1, 2023, and the next one, for sales beginning January 1, 2027:

Washington state REET slices (Department of Revenue, page read October 23, 2026)

The local tax is added on top. Counties and cities may impose up to 0.25% (RCW 82.46.010(2)), an additional tax up to 0.5% in lieu of another levy (82.46.010(3)), and a further 0.25% for planning counties and cities (82.46.035(2)). The Department's table in effect since May 1, 2026 lists 324 location codes: 195 at 0.50%, 121 at 0.25%, 6 at 0% and two, San Juan County and Friday Harbor, at 2.00%. Seattle, Bellevue, Tacoma, Everett, Spokane, Vancouver, Olympia, Bellingham and Bremerton are all at 0.50%. The Department adds a $5.00 technology fee to every transfer.

Example flip: seller's REET in Seattle at four sale prices (our arithmetic from RCW 82.45.060 and the Department of Revenue tables)

For scale, six months of interest on a $445,000 interest-only loan at the 10.5% median is $23,362.50 (our arithmetic), before points and fees; the REET on a $700,000 sale in Seattle is 49.3% of that. On a King County median loan of $755,000 at 10%, six months of interest is $37,750. The tax is a smaller number than the interest, but it is charged on the whole price once, and it is due on the date of sale even if the deed is recorded later; the Department charges 5% of the tax after one month, 10% after two and 20% after three. The January 1, 2027 change is small: a sale that closes on or after that date pays $46.80 less on a $700,000 sale, so it is not a reason to rush or delay a closing by itself. Washington's separate capital gains tax does not reach the sale of real estate, as our Washington capital gains tax page explains. Run your own numbers in the fix and flip calculator.

What a Washington investor can do with this

1. Place the quote on the distribution. A note rate at or below 9.95% was in the cheapest quarter of Washington short-term loans in 2025; at or above 12% in the costliest quarter. If the lender is not Eastside Funding, the middle half runs lower: the median is 10.25% and the 75th percentile 11%.
2. Expect the rate to follow the loan size and the lender. Loans of $100,000 to $299,999 had a 12% median, loans of $1,000,000 or more 9.625%. Ask for quotes from lenders that fund your size; the table above shows who did.
3. Check the term, not only the rate. 18.9% of the loans were 6-month terms and 6.0% were 5-month terms, so the exit must be ready in half a year. Ask what the extension costs.
4. Decide the borrower before you apply. Washington's usury defense is closed for a transaction primarily for business or investment purposes; a loan in your own name for your own home is a consumer transaction. Hold the property in the name you will sell it from, since the sale of 50% of an LLC is a taxable sale too.
5. Know the foreclosure clock. At least 30 days from notice of default to notice of sale and 90 days to the sale, a cure right until 11 days before, no redemption after, and a deficiency action limited on a commercial loan.
6. Price the exit. The seller pays REET: about 1.6% to 1.8% of a sale price between $400,000 and $1,600,000 in Seattle, and a sale on or after January 1, 2027 uses the higher slices.
7. Know the lender. Ask who funds the loan, and read our hard money lender comparison, the fix and flip loans guide, the best fix and flip lender comparison and the BRRRR method for the refinance exit into a 30-year loan at the 7.125% Washington median. For the house-flipping side, see house flipping in 2026.

FAQ

Loan data: FFIEC/CFPB HMDA Data Browser, Washington originated loans for 2025 (conventional loans kept), downloaded October 23, 2026 (script hmda_wa.py in the data folder), and the FFIEC 2025 filer list. Statutes: Revised Code of Washington 19.52.010, 19.52.020, 19.52.030, 19.52.080, 31.04.015, 31.04.025, 19.146.010, 19.146.200, 61.24.005, 61.24.020, 61.24.030, 61.24.031, 61.24.040, 61.24.050, 61.24.090, 61.24.100, 82.45.010, 82.45.060, 82.45.080, 82.46.010 and 82.46.035, from app.leg.wa.gov, read October 23, 2026. Tax tables: Washington Department of Revenue, real estate excise tax page and local rate table effective May 1, 2026, read October 23, 2026. All counts, shares, medians and tax figures are our arithmetic. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal, tax or lending advice, and not a loan offer.