To claim or Not to claim - Rental property deductions

[John Alosio]

I'm a buy and hold guy. I currently own 2 cash flowing properties in
addition to a “modest” w2 income. I gross about 90k total with the
rentals. I'm looking to scale sooner than later. I ran into a tight
underwriting on my second property due to my high DTI (this was pre
covid).

The past few years i have been shoveling most/all of my capital back into the
properties. 2020's tax filing came in at a loss of 10k after all the
deductions. 2021 is looking to be not far above break even. My question
is… is there any advantage to strategically NOT claiming deductions for
the purpose of making myself look more attractive to a lender?I
understand that there are lenders that offer non QM loans. But the come
at a higher cost for the life of the loan.. I’m looking to see if
there is might be a benefit to using this strategy to save the bump in
interest rate…
Thanks in advance!