Debt Service Loan for a Beginner House Hacker.

[Mohammed Nasser]

Hi BP community!

I plan to enter RE investing through house hacking but I am a complete beginner and wanted to ask a question regarding loans. I am in the process of saving up cash for a down payment and I know one of the options for house hacking would be a FHA loan for a 3.5%-5% down payment. I have also heard on some of the bigger pockets podcasts about debt service coverage ratio loan (DSCR) which is a loan that is given based on the potential income a house can generate. My questions are the following:

1) Is it common for these loans to be given to new RE investors that are investing in their first property or does there need to be a prior track record/experience in investing? What would be the minimum down payment needed?

2)What would be the general process for getting this loan? Do I find the property first, run the numbers to make income from the house would cover the mortgage and then apply for the loan or is it something that I can get pre-approved for?

3) I have been looking online and there seems to be a lot of companies that provide DSCR loans, but do any experienced real estate investors on this forum have any they recommend?

Again, I am completely new to this field and I am still studying about RE investing, so I apologize if any of these questions seem silly, and I would really appreciate any help I can get in answering these questions! Thank you all very much!