Buying a rental: DSCR
or conventional?
Two financing worlds can fund the same rental. One underwrites you; the other underwrites the property. Choosing well depends on which of you looks better on paper.
By Dawn M. Muñoz · Stonehaven Lending · Updated August 13, 2026
Conventional investment-property loans qualify you on your personal income and debts - great pricing if your DTI absorbs another mortgage, but every property you add tightens the ratio until conventional says no. DSCR loans qualify on the property's own numbers - rent against the full payment - typically without personal income documentation. Self-employed investors, portfolio builders, and anyone whose tax returns understate their real cash flow tend to land DSCR; W-2 borrowers buying their first rental with room in their ratios often price better conventionally. Stonehaven runs both desks, so the recommendation isn't a product pitch.
Who gets underwritten.
Conventional treats a rental like another personal debt: your income, your DTI, your tax returns - with some rental income credited under program rules. DSCR flips the lens: does the property's rent cover the property's payment at the required ratio? Your credit and reserves still matter, but your paycheck largely doesn't. That single difference drives everything else - documentation, speed, pricing, and how many properties you can stack.
The W-2 first-rental case.
Strong personal income, clean DTI, one or two properties: conventional usually prices best, and the documentation burden - while heavier - is familiar. If your returns show your income honestly and the new mortgage fits your ratios, take the pricing and run.
The investor case.
Self-employed with optimized tax returns. A portfolio that's exhausted conventional's patience. An LLC-held property. A short-term rental with documented income. Speed to close without a paperwork excavation. DSCR was built for exactly these files - and scaling investors often switch permanently once the property, not the person, becomes the borrower that matters. Run your deal in the DSCR calculator to see how the ratio reads.
How we actually advise it.
Because Stonehaven arranges both, the first conversation is a comparison, not a funnel: your ratios and returns on one side, the property's rent coverage on the other, priced honestly. Sometimes the answer is conventional now, DSCR from property three onward. The plan is the product.
Get the comparison from a firm that runs both.
Tell us about the property and your file - a specialist replies within one business day with an honest read on which structure fits.