Hard Money Loans Arizona 2026: Law, Foreclosure, Real Rates

What Arizona investors paid in 2025: 10.5% on 1,014 loans

The federal Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) record shows what Arizona investors signed for short-term loans: each reporting lender lists every loan it originates with its note rate, amount, term, loan-to-value ratio, purpose, county and metro area, and the FFIEC publishes the loan-level file. We downloaded the 183,878 originated Arizona loans for 2025 from the FFIEC Data Browser on October 11, 2026 and computed everything below from them (our arithmetic; the script hm_az.py and its output are in the data folder). The national picture is on our hard money loan rates page; this page is about what is different in Arizona. The same measurement for Texas is here and for Florida here.

How we found the loans, and one lender we left out

HMDA has no “hard money” field, so we built a proxy from fields that exist: originated, conventional, first lien, closed-end, not a reverse mortgage, investment property of 1 to 4 units, a business or commercial purpose, no debt-to-income ratio, and a loan term of 36 months or less. In 2025 Arizona had 12,967 originated loans on investment property, 8,659 flagged for a business purpose (106 more carry the “exempt” code), together $10,479,465,000 at a 7.25% median note rate. By the filer's name, non-banks made 83.7% of those business-purpose investor loans. The short-term group is 1,042 loans before any exclusion, the Arizona count on our private money lender page.

This page uses 1,014 of them. EMPORIUM TPO LLC reported 28 Arizona loans with a 30-month term and a 7.375% median rate; the pattern looks like 30-year loans entered as 30 months, not hard money. Bell Bank reported 13 loans with a 36-month term and rates under 8%, which we left in and flag below. The 31 loans by banks and credit unions (named as such, our reading) had a 6.75% median, so they pull the statewide figure down slightly; the 983 non-bank loans had a 10.625% median.

Arizona short-term (36 months or less) business-purpose investor loans in HMDA, 2025

Three things stand out. First, half the loans are 12 months, but 26.3% run 13 to 18 months, and most of those are one lender's 15-month product. Second, 63.3% of the loans with a reported rate (634 of 1,001) sit above 10%; the 10% figure matters in Arizona only as the default when no rate is written. Third, HMDA reports neither points nor fees on these loans, so a 10.5% note rate with two points on a 12-month loan costs more than 10.5% over the year (see the term-sheet section).

Arizona's rate rule: no cap on a written rate, a forfeiture if you break the cap that does exist

Arizona's general interest statute reads, for loans other than medical debt, that “interest shall be at the rate of ten percent a year, unless a different rate is contracted for in writing, in which event any rate of interest may be agreed to” (A.R.S. 44-1201(A)(2)). That confirms the premise that Arizona has no general usury ceiling: the parties choose the rate, but it has to be in writing. Our check on the 2025 file is below: 634 short-term loans with a reported note rate are above 10%, 155 above 12%, 2 above 15% and 0 above 18%, 24% or 36% (note rates only, fees not included).

Two Arizona rules sit around that freedom. The first is a forfeiture: a person who contracts for, reserves or receives “any greater sum of value” than the maximum permitted by law “shall, forfeit all interest” (44-1202), and payments above the principal can be set off or recovered (44-1204). The second is the Consumer Lender Act, which caps finance charges on consumer loans: a “consumer loan” is a closed-end loan of $10,000 or less to an individual for personal, family or household purposes (6-601), the cap is 36% on the first $3,000 and 24% above it (6-632), which blends to 27.6% on a $10,000 loan (our arithmetic), and closed-end loans of more than $10,000 are outside the chapter (6-602(B)(1)). A business-purpose investor loan, and nearly every loan in the HMDA group above (median $365,000), is outside it.

There is also a balloon-payment rule in the licensing title, A.R.S. 6-114, but it is narrow: it limits installment growth on a loan of $10,000 or less, for up to three years, on an owner-occupied dwelling, and only for liens other than a first lien (6-114(B) and (C)). It does not reach a first-lien investor bridge loan.

Who needs a licence in Arizona: the mortgage banker and broker statutes

The premise that licensing is required is mostly right, with a precise exemption. Arizona does not tie its mortgage banker and broker licences to consumer purpose. “Mortgage loan” is defined as a loan secured by a mortgage or deed of trust on real estate located in the state, created with the owner's consent (6-901(13) and 6-941(9)), and 6-943(A) says “A person shall not act as a mortgage banker if the person is not licensed under this article.” A mortgage banker is a person who, for compensation or in the expectation of it, makes, negotiates or offers to make a mortgage loan (6-941(6)). “Compensation” includes points and origination fees but not periodic interest (6-941(2)), so a lender whose income is fees plus interest is inside the definition.

The exemption that matters to private lenders is narrow: “A person who makes a mortgage banking loan or a mortgage loan” (a) with his own monies, (b) for his own investment, (c) without intent to resell, “(d) And is not engaged in the business of making mortgage loans or mortgage banking loans” (6-942(A)(2)). All four conditions apply. Other exemptions cover banks, credit unions and insurers regulated under their own laws (6-942(A)(1)), a seller who takes back a purchase-money deed of trust (6-942(A)(4)) and a person who funds a loan originated by a licensee and has no Arizona office, does not solicit borrowers and does not negotiate (6-942(A)(3)).

What this means for a borrower: a non-bank company that advertises flip loans on Arizona 1-4 unit property should be able to give you a licence number, not just a company name, and you can check it on the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions licence search. The licence can sit in an affiliate. Merchants Mortgage & Trust Corporation, the second-largest lender in our table, says on its website (October 11, 2026) that its Arizona mortgage banker licence, BK-0918174, is held by Merchants Funding AZ, LLC, and that its loans secured by real property are for business or investment purposes only. That is the company's claim, read from its page, and we did not check the state register. Reviews of other lenders in the table list their Arizona licences, for example Visio, Easy Street Capital and Center Street Lending.

Foreclosure in Arizona: a trustee sale from day 91, and the 90-day clock for a deficiency

Most Arizona investor loans are secured by a deed of trust, and the statute lets the trustee sell the property without a court: “a power of sale is conferred upon the trustee” (33-807(A)), though at the beneficiary's option the deed can be foreclosed like a mortgage (33-807(A), 33-721). The lender can also seek a receiver (33-807(C)). The path for a trustee sale is set by the statutes below.

Worked example (our arithmetic): a notice of trustee's sale recorded Monday, October 12, 2026 can be mailed until November 11, 2026, can support a sale no earlier than Monday, January 11, 2027, must be posted by December 22, 2026, and gives the borrower until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 8, 2027 to reinstate or obtain a court order. A 90-day deficiency window from a January 11 sale ends on Sunday, April 11, 2027. The statute also requires the notice to carry a bold warning that a defense must be raised by court order before the sale or may be waived (33-808(C)(8)). The 91-day floor is the number that matters for planning a short bridge: a lender that starts the process on a missed maturity date has roughly three months before it can sell, plus whatever time passes before the notice is recorded.

If the lender chooses judicial foreclosure instead, the court enters judgment for the amount due and the property is sold on special execution (33-725). After a judicial sale the borrower, or a successor, can redeem within six months, or within 30 days if the court found the property abandoned and not agricultural (12-1282(A) and (B), 12-1283). After a trustee sale there is no redemption.

Deficiency, guaranty and the two-and-a-half-acre rule

Whether the lender can chase the borrower after the auction is where Arizona differs most from the other state pages in this series. After a trustee sale, a deficiency action may be maintained within 90 days against “any person directly, indirectly or contingently liable on the contract,” including a guarantor; the deficiency is the amount owed less the greater of fair market value or the sale price (33-814(A)). If no action is filed in time, the sale proceeds are “deemed to be in full satisfaction of the obligation” (33-814(D)).

Subsection G is the shield: “If trust property of two and one-half acres or less which is limited to and utilized for either a single one-family or a single two-family dwelling is sold pursuant to the trustee's power of sale, no action may be maintained to recover any difference between the amount obtained by sale and the amount of the indebtedness.” The text has no owner-occupancy test and does not mention the borrower's type, so on its face it reaches a rental or a flip of a one- or two-family house on 2.5 acres or less. It does not reach 3- and 4-unit buildings, larger parcels, or land. For deeds of trust originated after December 31, 2014, it also does not apply to property owned by a builder-seller that secures construction financing, to a dwelling never substantially completed, or to a dwelling intended as a dwelling but never actually used as one (33-814(H)). A lender may also write a no-deficiency clause into the deed (33-814(F)). A parallel purchase-money rule limits a judgment in a mortgage foreclosure of a loan used to buy the same type of property (33-729).

We have not verified how Arizona courts treat an LLC borrower or a guarantor under 33-814(G); the text does not carve them out, and that is a question for an Arizona lawyer. It is the reason an Arizona lender's guaranty and its choice of judicial or non-judicial sale matter more than the interest rate when a short loan goes wrong.

Recording, transfer tax and the fees around the deed of trust

The county recorder charges $30 per instrument for recording most papers (11-475(A)(1)). A deed that transfers title must carry an affidavit of legal value that states the price, the type of financing and whether a residential dwelling is “to be owner-occupied or rented” (11-1133(A)(10)), but the affidavit is not required for a transfer “solely in order to provide or release security for a debt,” which includes a trustee's deed on sale (11-1134(B)(1)).

On transfer taxes, the Arizona Constitution prohibits new ones: the state and its subdivisions “shall not impose any new tax, fee, stamp requirement or other assessment” on selling, purchasing or transferring real property, and the clause does not apply to any such charge “in existence on December 31, 2007” (Article 9, Section 24). We read the statutes cited on this page and found no per-dollar transfer tax on deeds or on a deed of trust; we did not survey every city and county.

Who made the loans: Arizona lenders in the 2025 HMDA file

Lender concentration is high: two lenders made 569 of the 1,014 loans (our sum).

Merchants Mortgage & Trust's 228 loans include 218 with a 15-month term (our arithmetic), a median combined loan-to-value of 70% and no broker channel. Without Kiavi and Merchants the statewide median is 10.625%. Genesis Capital and Center Street Lending make the large loans (medians near $1.5 million); the smallest-ticket lenders in the table, SWH Funding, Hilton Financial and Easy Street, report 6- to 24-month loans of about $205,000 to $305,000. Lima One Capital reported 9 short-term loans (median 9.7%) and 11 DSCR-type loans (6.525%) in Arizona, RCN Capital 3 short-term loans, and Investor Mortgage Finance LLC (an affiliate of Visio Financial Services, per our Visio review) 37 DSCR-type loans at a 6.95% median and no short-term loans. Kiavi reported 56 DSCR-type loans at a 7% median. The largest DSCR-type lenders were United Shore Financial Services (349 loans, 7.375%), Champions Funding (188, 7.5%) and HomeXpress Mortgage (148, 7.25%).

The loans cluster in one metro area, and rates differ by place.

By county, Maricopa had 741 loans (median 10.5%, $415,000), Pima 78 (8.5%, $235,000), Pinal 60 (10.95%, $215,000), Yavapai 36 (11.49%, $340,000) and Mohave 33 (10.95%, $155,000), and 33 loans carry no county in the public file. The Tucson figure is explained by one lender: Kiavi's median note rate was 8% on its 65 Tucson loans and 10.95% on its 230 Phoenix loans. HMDA does not report the program, points or credit tier behind the difference, so we report it without a reason.

How to read a hard-money term sheet in Arizona

Use the statute, not the marketing, to read each line. Every reference below is to text we saved from the Arizona Legislature's site.

1. Rate. Check that the rate is in the signed note. Under 44-1201(A)(2) a written rate controls and any rate may be agreed; if the paper is silent the default is 10%. Compare it with the 2025 range (9.75% to 11.95% for the middle half of loans).
2. Points and fees. HMDA has no points field for these loans, and the statute counts points as “compensation” for licensing (6-941(2)). On a 12-month interest-only loan, one point is about one percentage point of extra yearly cost. Ask for the total cost in dollars and the payoff figure at month 6 and month 12 (see our hard money loan calculator).
3. Maturity and balloon. 77.4% of the 2025 loans had a balloon payment and 79.6% were interest-only. The Arizona balloon restriction in 6-114 does not apply to an investor first lien, so the maturity date is the real deadline.
4. Default and foreclosure clause. Look for acceleration on a missed maturity date, default interest, and the choice between a trustee sale and judicial foreclosure. The earliest trustee sale is the 91st day after the notice is recorded (33-807(D)); reinstatement is open until 5:00 p.m. the business day before the sale and costs the arrears plus trustee fees (33-813).
5. Guaranty and deficiency. If an individual guarantees an LLC's note, ask whether the property is a one- or two-family dwelling on 2.5 acres or less (33-814(G) bars a deficiency after a trustee sale) and whether the deed of trust contains a no-deficiency clause (33-814(F)). For a 3- or 4-unit building or a larger parcel the deficiency suit is open for 90 days (33-814(A)).
6. Licence. Get the lender's Arizona licence number and the name of the licensed entity; the licensed company may be an affiliate of the one on the term sheet. Ask which exemption in 6-942 the lender relies on if it says it needs no licence.
7. Funding source and assignment. An investor fund lending its own money may fall under 6-942(A)(2) only if it is not in the business of lending; a fund that assigns loans to investors is outside the “without intent to resell” condition.
8. Recording and title. Plan for the $30 recording fee per instrument (11-475) and the affidavit of legal value on your purchase deed (11-1133). A transfer of title solely to provide or release security, including a trustee's deed, is exempt from the affidavit (11-1134(B)(1)).

What an Arizona investor can do with this

1. Place any quote on the distribution. A note rate at or below 9.75% was in the cheapest quarter of Arizona short-term loans in 2025; at or above 11.95% it was in the costliest quarter. On a $365,000 loan that is $2,965.63 against $3,634.79 a month of interest, $8,030 a year (our arithmetic). Use 2025 as a range, not a target.
2. Price the metro. The Tucson median was 8.5% and Phoenix 10.57%, with different lenders in each. If you are buying in Pima County, compare a quote with Kiavi's own Tucson median of 8% and its Phoenix median of 10.95%; the gap is in the public file even though the reason is not.
3. Verify the licence before you sign. Ask for the Arizona mortgage banker or broker number and look it up. A company can be licensed through a subsidiary, as in the Merchants example above.
4. Read the guaranty against 33-814. The same house loan can leave the guarantor exposed or not depending on units, acreage and the deed's wording. Have an Arizona real estate lawyer read it.
5. Match the term to the rehab, not the sales pitch. Half the loans were 12 months; the 15-month and 24-month products are priced differently. A longer term costs more interest if you do not need it.
6. Plan the exit. A refinance into a 30-year rental loan had a 7.25% median in Arizona in 2025; our BRRRR method and investment property loans guide explain the sequence. For rental numbers, DealCheck runs the cash flow.

Kiavi pays us a referral fee when a loan closes through its button in the box below. The HMDA figures above are the same either way. Kiavi's own Arizona page (read October 11, 2026) says it offers bridge, DSCR and new-construction loans in Arizona, with “Loans from $100K to $5MM” and fix-and-flip “Rates as low as 8.25%*”, and its 2025 record (341 short-term loans, 10.95% median; 56 DSCR-type loans, 7% median) is in the tables above. Lima One Capital and Visio, also in the box, do not pay us; their Arizona records are in the lender section (9 and 11 loans for Lima One, 37 DSCR-type loans for Investor Mortgage Finance).

FAQ

Loan-level data: FFIEC/CFPB HMDA Data Browser, Arizona originated loans for 2025, downloaded October 11, 2026 (request URL in the data file; our script hm_az.py and its output are in sources/); definitions from the FFIEC public LAR field list; coverage rules from 12 CFR 1003.3 (eCFR) and its Supplement I interpretations; lender names from the FFIEC filer lists and, for two filers missing from them, the GLEIF register; county names from the Census Bureau 2020 county list; Arizona Revised Statutes sections 6-114, 6-601, 6-602, 6-632, 6-901, 6-902, 6-903, 6-941, 6-942, 6-943, 6-971, 6-972, 6-991, 11-475, 11-1133, 11-1134, 12-1281 to 12-1283, 33-721, 33-725, 33-727, 33-729, 33-801, 33-807 to 33-813, 33-814 and 44-1201 to 44-1204, and Arizona Constitution Article 9, Section 24, all from the Arizona Legislature's site, read October 11, 2026; Kiavi's Arizona page and the Merchants Mortgage & Trust licence page, read October 11, 2026, are the companies' own claims. All percentiles, medians, shares, payment figures and calendar dates are our arithmetic. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal, tax or lending advice, and not a loan offer.