Difficulty refinancine

[Carin Kveton]

I have a duplex I am trying to refinance. I purchased and rehabbed it, using a short term loan. I now need to refinance to a longer term loan. A local bank initially seemed interested. It cash flowed with just one tenant, but has two leases, so I'm cash-flowing over $1000/month, after all expenses. The bank decided to turn us down because our debt/income ratio didn't meet their criteria. This was AFTER the bank stated they looked at the property financial first. If they had "concerns", then they looked at our finances second. Since it was cash-flowing so well, and fully leased, (and owned by us for just over 2 years), I didn't think this would be  a problem. Our debt/income took a hit because we just got into RE Investing almost 4 years ago. I don't get it. It's like the banks WANT you to fail. I used non-traditional funding because the place needed rehabbing, and was empty. A bank wouldn't loan on the property as it was. Now that it is a performing asset, the bank finds other criteria to say no. I plan to seek out other banks, however, how do I interview THEM, so I don't waste my time gathering all my paperwork up front. How do you get them to tell you what they are REALLY looking for? Any tips on how to tactfully work with banks to effectively communicate with them would be appreciated!