Most investors think a property has to be rented out before a DSCR loan will touch it. It makes sense on the surface, because the whole loan is built around rental income, so people assume you need a tenant in place and a signed lease to prove it. That holds for commercial deals. On residential it does not. I work with investors every day, and I close DSCR loans on houses sitting completely empty, whether you are buying the place or pulling cash out of one you already own.
Here is how it works. The appraiser values the property like normal. Then he fills out a rent schedule, which is basically comps but for rent instead of price, and it shows what the place would bring in on the open market. Underwriting uses that market rent as the income to run the DSCR. So the property does not need a warm body in it or a lease on file. It needs an appraiser who says the rent supports the payment. I had an investor sitting on a vacant flip he decided to keep. No tenant, no lease, and we still pulled cash out based on market rent so he could go fund the next deal.
If you have a vacant property you are trying to buy or refinance and you are not sure the numbers work, send it my way. I will run the market rent against the payment and tell you straight if it pencils. No pressure.
I recently sat down with Christopher Stirgus in his It Pays To Have Good Credit Podcast to break down how to use credit to buy real estate and whether that makes sense with 2026 mortgage rates. Your credit profile is an asset you can deploy, and we covered how legal dispute methods and real credit education can rebuild your score before you buy. If your numbers aren't where you want them yet, this episode shows you what's possible.
Watch the full episode here:
Watch: Big Changes to DSCR Loans in 2026 and learn how lenders really calculate DSCR loans and why rent, appraised market value, credit score, and loan structure determine how much you can borrow on your next rental property.
Ben Stef, Mortgage Advisor | NMLS# 2018674
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