Never bought a rental? Start right here.
Nine steps, three stages, zero jargon left unexplained. Work through them in order and you will know more than most people do when they buy their first rental.
Get ready
Decide why you want a rental
Monthly cash flow? Long-term wealth? A side business you can grow? Your "why" decides what kind of property makes sense and how much risk you are comfortable with. Write it down. You will come back to it when a shiny deal tempts you.
Take an honest money inventory
Add up the cash you could put toward a down payment, closing costs and a reserve cushion, without touching your personal emergency fund. Pull your credit reports and fix any errors early. Knowing your numbers keeps you from falling for a property you cannot comfortably carry.
Learn the language
DSCR, PITIA, LTV, reserves, seasoning. Ten minutes with our glossary will make every conversation with an agent, lender or property manager easier, and help you spot when something does not add up.
Find the deal
Pick a market you can understand
Close to home is easier to learn, but not required. What matters is that you can research real rents, typical taxes and insurance, landlord rules and demand. Talk to local property managers; they know what rents and what sits empty.
Run the numbers on every property
Before you fall in love, put realistic rent, taxes, insurance and HOA into the DSCR calculator with a rate from a real quote. If the rent does not cover the payment, move on or rethink the price. Then budget separately for repairs, vacancy and management.
Talk financing before you make offers
Reach out to us early. We will tell you which DSCR programs fit your situation, what you will likely need to bring to closing, and how to structure your offer timeline so the financing has room to work.
Close and launch
Inspect, appraise, underwrite
Your inspector checks the bones of the property. The lender’s appraiser confirms value and market rent. Underwriting reviews everything and may ask for a few more documents. Respond quickly and this stage moves faster.
Close and get insured
Sign the paperwork, the lender sends the money, and the deed records in your name or your LLC’s. Make sure a landlord insurance policy is active on day one.
Lease it up and track everything
Screen tenants carefully and fairly, follow local landlord laws, and open a separate bank account for the property. Clean records now make rental #2 much easier to finance.
Done reading? Let's talk about your first rental.
Tell us about the property. We will shop wholesale lenders for a business-purpose DSCR loan and walk you through every step in plain English.