Do lenders consider rental property income when applying for loan

[Josh Rodriguez]

Hello BP, do lenders look at and/or consider rental property income when applying for a loan? In other words, let's say I make 60K from my W-2 job and 5K from rental income annually. Do lenders even consider the 5K as income? Or do they only base their decision only on W-2 income? Thank you in advance!

[Michael Garofalo]

@Josh Rodriguez yes they will count your rental income but you have to have the tax returns to prove it. Ideally you would have that income appear on the past two (2) years. If you just bought the property and have valid lease agreements in place, then you might be able to count a portion of it. At the end of the day, each bank has their own set of rules, and it depends on the type of loan you are trying to get. Community banks are always the easiest to work with on these types of things. It's best to talk to a variety of lenders to see how they would treat things and then pick the one that will be most accommodating with the best terms.