Overview
You do not need your CPA to become a loan officer.
You do need them to stop hearing “DSCR” as a red flag. Partners need the same short briefing. The story is simple: the refinance qualifies on the property, not on the return they built on purpose.
Hand them this page. Then keep tax questions in their shop and lending questions in ours.
What to say in one minute
A DSCR refinance is a business-purpose loan on an investment property you already own.
The lender’s core test is whether the rental’s income covers the property’s payment. Personal DTI and tax-return income are not the approval story.
You keep title — you or the LLC. The lender records a lien, like any mortgage.
The rate is often higher than a conventional investment refinance. The reason to consider it is access, entity vesting, and a file that does not fight the write-offs.
That is the whole briefing. Everything else is detail.
What your CPA should (and should not) own
Their lane
- Whether cash-out, interest, and closing costs are treated the way you expect on the return
- Entity choice, basis, depreciation, and any 1031 question that got mixed into the chat
- Whether vesting in an LLC, or moving title into one, is a step they want on this property
- How a new payment changes cash available to the owners after tax
Not their lane
- Approving the loan
- Setting the ratio, credit floor, or structure
- Promising a close date
- Rewriting your tax plan so a conventional DTI looks prettier — unless they independently think that is wise
If they want program mechanics, a specialist at {{BRAND_NAME}} can join a short call and stay in the lending box.
What partners usually want to see
Partners care about control, cash, and signatures.
Control. You still own the asset (or the entity that does). This is not a sale to the lender.
Cash. Rate-and-term vs. cash-out. What the new payment does to monthly surplus. Whether proceeds hit the entity account or another account you designate at closing.
Signatures. Who must sign. Whether a personal guaranty is likely. What the operating agreement already requires.
Bring a current rent roll, the current loan, and a draft use of proceeds. Vague “we’ll pull equity and scale” is how partners stall a good file.
How to keep the jobs from blending
Do not ask the lender for depreciation advice.
Do not ask the CPA to underwrite DSCR.
Do not treat a refinance as an exchange. A 1031 is a different project with different advisors.
Do not change vesting at closing because it sounded tidy on a sales call. Run vesting past the attorney and CPA first.
Write the questions down by owner. Lending questions. Tax questions. Legal questions. The file moves faster when each question has a name next to it.
Common questions
Should the CPA send the last two returns anyway?
Qualification is not on personal income. Sending extra documents “just in case” can drag a retail habit into a property file. If a program asks for a narrow item, you will know why.
Can partners stay off the loan and on the LLC?
Maybe. Authority, guarantees, and who is on title are program- and entity-specific. Do not assume. Ask before you promise a partner they are invisible.
Is the interest deductible?
Ask the CPA. Investment-property interest depends on your facts. This page will not answer it.
What do I send the partnership chat?
The one-minute briefing above, the rent vs. payment idea, and that a specialist will itemize this property — including an honest no.
What still matters
A clean briefing does not make a thin rental qualify.
The property still has to support the payment. Credit, reserves, property type, and state rules still apply. Programs differ.
Your CPA and partners are not a second underwriting department. They are the people who keep you from closing a loan that fights the rest of the plan.
If they understand the idea, the next step is a property review — not a longer memo.
Bottom line
If you roughly get the idea and want to know whether it might fit, a specialist at {{BRAND_NAME}} ({{PARENT_NAME}}) can review this property — no pressure, and an honest answer if it isn’t a fit.
See if your property may qualify Call {{PHONE_DISPLAY}}
{{BRAND_FULL_NAME}} · NMLS #{{NMLS}} · Equal Housing Lender
This material is educational. DSCR loans are generally business-purpose financing on investment property — not a government program and not a consumer or primary-residence loan. Program rules vary. {{PARENT_NAME}}, NMLS #{{NMLS}}. Equal Housing Lender.