DSCR Loan Requirements

DSCR loan requirements

Coverage, credit, down payment, reserves, property type and documents: the requirements a DSCR loan review works through.

Every figure on this page is read from the published Greenstreet program matrix, the site's DSCR engine or its state rules — the matrix from its program sheets dated Sep 12, 2025 – Apr 1, 2026 (pulled Jun 24, 2026). Educational, not a loan commitment: verify the exact current matrix before relying on a threshold.

The published programs at a glance

Each published Greenstreet program sets its own floors. The figures below are each program's headline — its best case — and the grid cell that applies to a deal depends on credit, loan amount, DSCR, transaction type, property type and borrower profile.

Published program matrix · program sheets dated Sep 12, 2025 – Apr 1, 2026 (pulled Jun 24, 2026)
Program	Min FICO	DSCR floor	Best-case purchase LTV	Max loan	Reserves
Greenstreet Maple	620	0.75x · no-ratio option	85%	$3.0M	FICO < 620: 12 mo · otherwise per loan size
Greenstreet Oak	660	0.75x · no-ratio option	85%	$3.0M	≤ $500k: 3 mo · ≤ $2M: 6 mo · > $2M: 12 mo
Greenstreet Birch	620	No-ratio option	80%	$3.0M	≤ $1M: 3 mo · ≤ $2M: 6 mo · > $2M: 12 mo
Greenstreet Cedar	640	0.75x	80%	$3.5M	2 mo · > $1.5M: 6 mo · > $2.5M: 12 mo
Greenstreet Aspen	640	0.75x	80%	$2.5M	≤ $1M: 3 mo · > $1M: 6 mo
Greenstreet Willow	660	0.80x	80%	$3.0M	≤65% LTV: 0 mo · < $1M: 3 mo · $1M–$1.5M: 6 mo · > $1.5M: 9 mo
Greenstreet Magnolia	660	1.00x	80%	$3.0M	≤ $2M: 6 mo · > $2M: 12 mo

Coverage: DSCR and program floors

DSCR (debt service coverage ratio) is the property's qualifying monthly rent divided by its full monthly payment, PITIA: principal, interest, taxes, insurance (and any flood policy), and any HOA dues. 1.00x means the rent exactly covers the payment; higher is stronger, and below 1.00x the rent does not cover it. For a long-term rental the qualifying rent is the lower of the signed lease and the appraiser's Form 1007 market rent, with no vacancy deduction.

The published programs' rated floors run from 0.75x to 1.00x, and Greenstreet Maple, Greenstreet Oak and Greenstreet Birch also publish a no-ratio option. Below 1.00x, lender choices narrow sharply and reserves rise; below 0.75x, most institutional programs don't apply.

A 5+ unit file is scored the commercial way — net operating income over annual debt service — and the published 5+ unit programs price to their own multi-family floors: Greenstreet Birch at 1.10x and Greenstreet Magnolia at 1.00x.

The site sizes a comfortable pass at 1.10x, not at the bare 1.00x, where the rent covers the payment with nothing to spare — a sizing convention, not a program floor.

Credit score

The published Greenstreet program matrix includes minimum FICO scores from 620 to 660, but that headline number does not establish eligibility. The applicable floor also depends on loan amount, leverage, transaction type, property type, DSCR, borrower status and the current program grid. Higher credit and lower leverage generally improve the available structure.

Past credit events are set program by program too. Conventional (Fannie Mae-eligible) financing applies a fixed waiting-period table after a bankruptcy, foreclosure, deed-in-lieu or short sale. DSCR and other non-QM programs are not bound by that table, and many apply materially shorter, program-specific seasoning after the same events — but there is no single industry-wide non-QM waiting period. Greenstreet Oak lists “Recent credit events OK”.

src · Fannie Mae Selling Guide B3-5.3-07 · Greenstreet published program matrix

Down payment and LTV

LTV is how the loan amount compares to the property value — lower means more equity. On a purchase it is 100% minus your down payment.

Published purchase maximums reach 80–85% LTV in some Greenstreet program scenarios. The highest cell in any published grid is 85% on a purchase, 80% on a rate-and-term refinance and 80% on a cash-out refinance, but the applicable grid cell depends on credit, loan amount, DSCR, transaction type, property type and borrower profile.

More equity can improve payment coverage and may expand available structures. Treat any down-payment figure as a scenario input until the current program matrix is reviewed for the specific deal.

Reserves

Lenders require reserves — months of mortgage payments kept in the bank after closing. Each published program sets its own minimum, shown in the table above, and the minimum of the program you qualify for governs your file.

The site's general reserve estimate starts from a DSCR-tiered base and adds overlays for a short-term rental strategy, a lower credit score, a first-time investor, a larger loan, a foreign-national borrower, higher leverage and California properties, up to a cap. The FAQ sets out the months for each.

Property types

Commonly eligible: single-family homes (attached and detached), 2–4 unit residential, warrantable and non-warrantable condos, condotels (with conditions), manufactured and modular homes, and ADUs. Commonly excluded: assisted living or group homes, co-ops, fractional ownership or timeshares, mixed-use commercial, and some agricultural and very small properties. Properties must be in C4 condition or better — no significant deferred maintenance.

Eligibility follows the program, though. What the published programs list:

5+ units: Greenstreet Birch and Greenstreet Magnolia
Short-term rentals: all 7 programs
Condotels: Greenstreet Oak and Greenstreet Willow
Non-warrantable condos: Greenstreet Maple
New construction: Greenstreet Birch
Mixed-use, commercial-zoned, agricultural, co-op and leasehold collateral: Greenstreet Magnolia

Entity and vesting

Most lenders prefer an LLC for business-purpose compliance, and LLC vesting is standard. You will sign a personal guaranty (full recourse). Entity limits — how many owners the entity may have, who must guarantee, and how many LLC layers are allowed — are set program by program, so check the specific program's matrix.

One structural exception: a purchase made inside a self-directed IRA or Solo 401(k) must be non-recourse, because federal rules treat a personal guaranty from the account holder as a prohibited transaction between the plan and its owner. Whether a given program supports that structure is a separate question to confirm before relying on it.

A DSCR loan is business-purpose credit, exempt from Regulation Z — which is what lets a lender qualify it on the property's rent instead of your income. The exemption has an occupancy limit, so if you plan to spend time living in the property, check it against that limit first.

State rules can turn on the entity too: the state prepayment-penalty rules carry an entity-vesting condition in IL and NJ. In New Jersey, lender readings of the statute split, and by default only a C-Corp or S-Corp borrower can rely on a prepayment penalty — an LLC may have to take the no-penalty pricing.

src · 12 CFR 1026.3(a)(1) · Reg Z comment 3(a)-4 · IRC §4975(c)(1)(B) · N.J.S.A. 46:10B-2

State prepayment-penalty rules

A prepayment penalty is a fee some loans charge if you pay the loan off or refinance early, typically on a declining step-down schedule. Accepting one lowers the rate, and some states restrict or ban prepayment penalties on investment-property loans.

The site's state rules encode 47 states and DC, last confirmed against primary sources in January 2026:

Prepay allowed — 27: Business-purpose DSCR prepay penalty generally clear.
Conditional — 18: Amount, entity vesting, ARM type, or unsettled reading decides it.
Effectively prohibited — 3: Statute leaves no workable penalty — price the file as no-PPP.
Not yet encoded — 3 (AK, CT, MA): Not in the rule matrix yet — verify with counsel.

Check the State Rules page for your state before assuming the penalty option is available.

Documents

No W-2s or tax returns — but there is a document list:

Property: the executed purchase contract or mortgage statement, the Form 1007 rent schedule (from the appraisal — not something you provide), a signed lease if the property is occupied, and the HOA dues statement.
Insurance: a hazard binder showing investment occupancy, a flood binder if the property is in a FEMA Special Flood Hazard Area, and wind or hurricane coverage where required.
Entity, if you buy through an LLC: operating agreement, articles of organization, a current certificate of good standing, EIN letter and a resolution to borrow.
Borrower: photo ID, SSN or ITIN, credit authorization, and bank statements for reserves.
Funds to close: a paper trail on the down payment and closing-cost funds.

The three items that most commonly delay closings: an insurance binder with the wrong occupancy type, an LLC with lapsed good standing, and a reserves shortfall discovered late in the process.

Seasoning

Seasoning is elapsed time since a defining event: the purchase, the last refinance, or in some frameworks a listing coming off market. For a refinance it decides when the new loan can close, and whether a recently bought property is valued at what you paid or at its current appraised value.

The site's refinance tools apply a 6-month seasoning window before a DSCR refinance, and a construction or bridge takeout counts as a refinance for this purpose. Cash-out seasoning differs by program and from Fannie Mae's conventional rule; the FAQ sets out both, along with delayed financing after an all-cash purchase.

Credit events carry their own seasoning, set program by program — see Credit score above.

src · Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.3-03