DSCR loan vs conventional mortgage for a rental — how is the property's income evaluated?

Oct 18, 2026 Last reply: 4 hours ago 0 Replies
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I am weighing a DSCR loan against a conventional mortgage for my first rental property and want to understand how each lender looks at the property's income. With a conventional loan, do underwriters mainly use my personal income and debt-to-income ratio, or does the expected rent count too? For a DSCR loan, is the qualifying number simply the property's net operating income divided by the annual debt payment? I have heard DSCR lenders use appraised market rent instead of a signed lease, and I want to know which figure actually goes into the calculation. Does vacancy, property tax, or insurance change the income side of the ratio or only the payment side? Any real examples of how lenders verified rental income would really help me compare these two options.


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