DSCR
A DSCR loan on a 1-4 unit rental is available to borrowers on non-permanent status, but only on a closed list of visa classes: E-1, E-2, E-3, EB-5, G-1 through G-5, H-1, L-1, NATO, O-1, R-1 and TN NAFTA. The visa must be current, and a visa expiring within six months of the close date triggers extension documentation. This is the opposite of the commercial side, where temporary status is excluded outright. This page is about program eligibility only and is not immigration advice.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
A third-party property manager has to produce two things for the loan file: an executed property management agreement with a term longer than one year, and, when the manager is an individual rather than a company, a resume showing at least two years of experience managing income-producing property. A manager confirmed to be a licensed real estate agent or broker does not need the resume. That is the whole list. The agreement term is what most often stalls a file, because month-to-month forms are common and do not clear the test.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
Yes. Under our Small Balance Commercial guidelines, any manager or controlling holder who does not hold a membership interest may be required to sign a personal guaranty, and all parties which control the borrower fall inside the background review regardless of ownership. A controlling holder is anyone with the authority to direct the entity or act on its behalf without unanimous or majority member consent. This page explains how that test is applied in practice, what signing pulls in, and where the guideline is genuinely silent.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
Anyone who owns 25% or more of the borrowing entity, directly or indirectly, will be required to execute a personal guaranty. If no single member reaches 25%, the guaranty is typically signed by multiple members who in aggregate own at least 51%. Managers and controlling holders who own nothing can be pulled in too, and liability cannot be capped at your share of the entity.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →DSCR
No. A trust or LLC borrower where a power of attorney is used is named an ineligible borrower in both of our program guidelines, and the commercial guideline prohibits POAs at closing unless legal counsel approves. No exception process is described anywhere in either document. This page covers what the rule is, why it exists, what a POA does to the personal guaranty, and the mail-away, notarisation and scheduling routes investors use instead.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →DSCR
Yes — if underwriting can follow the ownership up the chain and land on a natural person who will sign a guaranty. Layered holding-company structures are not automatically ineligible; structures we cannot see through to a real human being are. The usual fix is a change at the borrowing entity, not an unwind of your holding structure.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →DSCR
No. On our DSCR program for 1-4 unit investment property, an irrevocable trust cannot be the borrower, and it cannot sit as a member of the borrowing LLC either. A revocable trust generally can. The reason is recourse: every loan on the program requires a natural person with control who signs a personal guaranty, and an irrevocable trust is built to sever exactly that. This page explains the look-through test, the trust-as-LLC-member case, and what an owner whose property is already in a trust can practically consider.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
Usually you cannot. Our Small Balance Commercial program will not lend when the borrower or a guarantor resides in the residential component, and the prohibition is written by state and unit count: Multi-Family or Mixed-Use of 6 units or fewer in New York and New Jersey, Multi-Family or Mixed-Use of 5 units or fewer everywhere else. Where a borrower does reside in a unit, it can flip the file into Owner Occupied classification and requires a Loan Purpose Analysis Worksheet. Consumer-mortgage law questions belong with your attorney.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
Commercial mortgages are made to for-profit legal entities wholly owned by individuals, not to a person in their own name. Under our Small Balance Commercial program the borrower must be a US-domiciled LLC, LP, partnership, corporation or revocable trust, with natural person members and in good standing. In New York, in New Jersey on smaller mixed-use and multi-family, and for fewer than five residential properties elsewhere, we are prohibited from lending to an individual at all. Here is what the entity has to be, what it does not protect you from, and what you will have to prove.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
A commercial lender judges a building on the appraiser's condition rating and the repair items listed with it. An appraiser rating of Fair triggers an additional review before the property can be called acceptable. Deferred maintenance that rises to a life-and-safety issue may be a reason to decline, and where the loan proceeds, evidence of repair is required before closing. Holdbacks exist for reasonable repairs, cannot exceed 180 days, and are not available for structural work, new construction, or retrofit.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
A commercial property can be in fine shape and still be declined for what stands around it. Our SBC guidelines state that regardless of the subject property's own condition, the property is ineligible if other properties within a two-block radius are vacant, abandoned or boarded. The test is about marketability and exit, not aesthetics, and it arrives in your file from three separate directions. This page covers the exact language, what it leaves open, and what a borrower can realistically do about it.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
If your building is zoned legal non-conforming, we may require Ordinance and Law coverage - a combination of Coverage A, B and C - on the property policy, as determined on your file. Coverage A addresses the value of the undamaged portion, B the cost of demolishing it, and C the increased cost of rebuilding to current code. Our guidelines set the trigger and leave the limits to a file-level determination. Policy terms vary by carrier, so the specifics belong with your insurance agent.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
A property subject to a pending zoning or land-use change is not eligible under our Small Balance Commercial program. It is a flat ineligibility rather than a pricing adjustment, and it sits in the appraisal section beside the rules requiring the report to state the specific zoning classification, describe the permitted uses, and note the property's compliance status. This page covers why the line is drawn there, what the guideline leaves undefined, and what a buyer under contract can practically do about timing.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
A zoning variance is not an automatic decline. Properties with zoning variances are subject to review and must not harm marketability, and the appraisal report has to state and define the specific zoning classification, describe the permitted uses, and note the property compliance status. Legal and legal non-conforming uses are acceptable; illegal uses are not. A property that is subject to a pending zoning change is a different question and is not eligible.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
An unpermitted basement apartment or converted garage is excluded from both appraised value and qualifying revenue, so the building underwrites as if it does not exist. That exclusion cascades straight into LTV and DSCR. Here is what the appraiser and the underwriter actually do with unpermitted space, how legal non-conforming status differs, and what an owner can do about it.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
Almost never — and the reason has nothing to do with the quality of the report. A commercial appraisal has to be ordered through the lender's AMC, with the lender as the named client. An appraisal addressed to the borrower is unusable no matter how good it is. Here is why that structure exists, when a prior lender's report can still be used, and how to avoid paying for two appraisals on the same building.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
An existing commercial appraisal can be up to six months old at closing, and not a day older. Before that wall there are two earlier triggers: an outside appraisal past three months needs a current interior inspection, and as of July 2026 an existing report past four months triggers a reinspection. The clock runs to your closing date, not your application date. Here is what starts it, what each tier costs you, and how to sequence a slow deal so the report survives.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
Sometimes. The rule is written as a convertibility test, not a banned-use list: a property with a special use component is ineligible unless it can be readily converted to standard retail, warehouse or office space with limited cost and a reasonable timeline — under 90 days. That reframes the question from "is my building unusual" to "if the operator vanished, how fast and how cheaply does this become ordinary space." Here is how to run that test on your own building.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
Yes. A property used commercially inside a residential zoning district — typically operating under a special use permit or conditional use permit — is eligible under our small balance commercial program, but at a maximum LTV of 50%. That is roughly half the leverage most buyers model, and it is the single fact that decides whether these deals close. This page explains what triggers the cap, how legal conforming, legal non-conforming, and special use permit properties differ, and how to confirm your zoning before you write an offer.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →SBC
An inherited commercial building is eligible for a rate-and-term refinance under The Fiirm's SBC program. Cash-out is an exception, not a right. Probate must be cleared and title vested in the borrower before anything closes. Paying off another heir's share is provided for separately — but only where that equity interest is documented.
August 31, 2026
Read the guide →