19 DSCR Loans in 12 Months: What Actually Gets a Deal Stuck
Last reviewed: September 2026
Most DSCR content online explains what a DSCR loan is. This isn't that. This is what we've actually seen after funding 19 DSCR transactions in the past 12 months — including one no-ratio deal at 70% LTV and a $2.9 million transaction, our largest to date.
The short version: DSCR loans get stuck less often because of the ratio itself and more often because of three things nobody mentions in the marketing: lease documentation, entity vesting mismatches, and short-term rental income methodology.
Where Deals Actually Get Stuck
1. The rent number doesn't match anything verifiable. A market-rent estimate from an appraiser and a signed lease can produce two different DSCR numbers. If a borrower is counting on the higher of the two without confirming which one the specific lender uses, the approval they expected can shrink at the last minute.
2. The LLC doesn't match the borrower's personal guarantee paperwork. We've closed roughly 32 transactions involving LLC or entity vesting. The recurring issue isn't whether an LLC can hold title — most DSCR programs allow it — it's whether the LLC's operating agreement, EIN, and the personal guarantor's information all line up cleanly before underwriting starts. Mismatches here cause more delays than the DSCR ratio itself.
3. Short-term rental income gets calculated differently by different lenders. We've worked through roughly 38 STR-specific scenarios. Some programs use a percentage of projected gross short-term rental income; others require a set number of months of actual booking history through AirDNA or a similar tool. A borrower who assumes one methodology going in, when their actual lender uses the other, can see their qualifying number move significantly.
What a No-Ratio Structure Actually Looks Like
Not every property needs to hit a 1.0 DSCR to qualify. We've closed a no-ratio transaction at 70% LTV — meaning the property's income wasn't the qualifying factor at all; the lower leverage was. That's a real structural alternative for a strong property that doesn't cash-flow as cleanly on paper, and it's worth asking about before assuming a low-DSCR property is unfinanceable.
Cash-Out Is Its Own Category
Roughly 22 of our DSCR transactions have been cash-out refinances. The mechanics here are different from a purchase — seasoning requirements, LTV caps, and how the new rent factors into the payoff calculation all matter more than on a purchase transaction.
The Real Lesson
Across 19 deals, the pattern isn't "DSCR loans are hard." It's that DSCR programs vary meaningfully lender to lender on the exact issues above — and working with someone who has access to multiple DSCR outlets (we currently work with 14 in-house programs and roughly 27 additional broker outlets) matters more than which single lender you start with.
Have a DSCR scenario you're trying to structure? Reach out and we'll walk through which of these three issues is likely to matter for your specific property.
Mike Belfor, Branch Manager and Mortgage Loan Originator, American Pacific Mortgage, NMLS #264700. 23+ years of mortgage lending experience.
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