Seeking DSCR lender to scale my specific long term rental strategy

[Brian Joseph OConnor]

I closed on my first deal back on 10/16/24 so I'm a newbie. This deal was found on MLS and is a new construction 4/3.5 SFH with DADU and I purchased on n FHA owner-occupied loan. I only brought 3.5% down to closing and the seller paid 3% CCA which I used to buy down my rate to 4.8%. I'm house hacking living in the DADU and renting the 4 bedrooms out by the room. I had no trouble filling my rooms and the house appreciated for $10K over purchase price, the tenants are paying utilities. I'm cash flowing $1100/month. So even though I'm new I've seen enough to know I want to scale this new construction/build to rent by the room strategy in my market. I'm not renting to students! My property is in a depressed area walking distance to the largest employer in the area which is a shipyard. The area is loaded with men on 1-2 year contracts who have homes some where else and they just need 1-2 years of safe, clean, comfortable housing and the only other option is seedy hotels.

That being said, I approached a local DSCR lender who refuses to look at my specific rental strategy in underwriting. The lender actually said he will only underwrite my property as a single renter long term rental based on comps. So I did that and my property revenue cannot service the debt but using my strategy I'm cash flowing $1100/month after PITI on a new construction home under warranty. The lender seems to believe that the only rent by the room strategy that exists is renting rooms to college students and his quote to me was "more people, more leases, more problems".

What do I know?? But my 4 renters are in there 30's-50's and work 50+ hours / week building naval ships and submarines and they enjoy being close enough to walk to the shipyard and coming home to a brand new house with all the modern upgrades. My house has no vacancies and other guys are constantly calling and inquiring about rooms available. I'm not really "pitching an idea" as much as I'm wanting to scale up something that is untapped and ready to roll. My builder has 4 houses in the area already built and on MLS but I can't deploy another owner occupied mortgage for another 11 months.

A DSCR would be perfect for me because I have funds for down payment, I have good enough credit and my strategy has proven to do a lot more than just service the debt.

Does anyone know of any good DSCR lenders that I could contact?

Thanks,   Brian

[Robin Simon]

Quote from @Brian Joseph OConnor:

I closed on my first deal back on 10/16/24 so I'm a newbie. This deal was found on MLS and is a new construction 4/3.5 SFH with DADU and I purchased on n FHA owner-occupied loan. I only brought 3.5% down to closing and the seller paid 3% CCA which I used to buy down my rate to 4.8%. I'm house hacking living in the DADU and renting the 4 bedrooms out by the room. I had no trouble filling my rooms and the house appreciated for $10K over purchase price, the tenants are paying utilities. I'm cash flowing $1100/month. So even though I'm new I've seen enough to know I want to scale this new construction/build to rent by the room strategy in my market. I'm not renting to students! My property is in a depressed area walking distance to the largest employer in the area which is a shipyard. The area is loaded with men on 1-2 year contracts who have homes some where else and they just need 1-2 years of safe, clean, comfortable housing and the only other option is seedy hotels.

That being said, I approached a local DSCR lender who refuses to look at my specific rental strategy in underwriting. The lender actually said he will only underwrite my property as a single renter long term rental based on comps. So I did that and my property revenue cannot service the debt but using my strategy I'm cash flowing $1100/month after PITI on a new construction home under warranty. The lender seems to believe that the only rent by the room strategy that exists is renting rooms to college students and his quote to me was "more people, more leases, more problems".

What do I know?? But my 4 renters are in there 30's-50's and work 50+ hours / week building naval ships and submarines and they enjoy being close enough to walk to the shipyard and coming home to a brand new house with all the modern upgrades. My house has no vacancies and other guys are constantly calling and inquiring about rooms available. I'm not really "pitching an idea" as much as I'm wanting to scale up something that is untapped and ready to roll. My builder has 4 houses in the area already built and on MLS but I can't deploy another owner occupied mortgage for another 11 months.

A DSCR would be perfect for me because I have funds for down payment, I have good enough credit and my strategy has proven to do a lot more than just service the debt.

Does anyone know of any good DSCR lenders that I could contact?

Thanks,   Brian

 What is the leasing situation like - how long are these leases?  Also, have you made any significant alterations to the property or if it were put on the market today, would it be indistinguishable from a standard 4-bedoom house (are there any extra walls for the SRO, constructed locks/barriers etc.)

If its a standard SFR and the leases are very short term - there is a path that you could refinance this with a DSCR as basically a Short Term Rental and then potentially change strategic course back to SRO if needed at a later date