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News & Guides
Playbooks, guideline intel, and market news for loan originators working Non-QM.
Sixteen million Americans file 1099s and most of them get quoted like they're unemployed. The 1099-only program qualifies them off gross earnings — no tax returns, no schedule C archaeology.
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Investor StrategyBuy, rehab, rent, refinance, repeat — the whole model lives or dies on step four. Seasoning clocks, ARV rules, and the LTV cliffs that strand investors mid-cycle.
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Pricing"Why is this rate so much higher than what my bank quoted?" You will hear it on every file. Here's the real answer, the adjustment stack behind it, and the framing that closes the conversation.
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Property TypesAt the fifth unit, residential lending ends and most LOs hand the client to a commercial broker. Non-QM investors will do 5–10 units and mixed-use on DSCR logic — if you know who and how.
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Property TypesThe borrower calls it a vacation home. The lender may call it an investment — or worse, call it fraud. How occupancy is actually determined, and why Non-QM often makes the argument moot.
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Fix & FlipDraw schedules, interest reserves, and the exit that has to exist before the first shovel. What LOs need to know to finance builders and bridge investors between deals.
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DSCRConventional taps out at ten financed properties. DSCR generally doesn't count them at all — but investor exposure caps, entity structure, and blanket loans all enter the picture at scale.
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ITIN & Foreign NationalNon-permanent residents are among the most creditworthy borrowers in the market and among the most frequently declined. What documentation actually matters, and where the agency box ends.
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Investor StrategyForty-five days to identify, one hundred eighty to close, and a financing structure that can't jeopardize the exchange. Plus the rule that lets an all-cash buyer get their money back in weeks.
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Asset DepletionA borrower with eight figures in assets and almost no reportable income is not a hard file — it's the wrong doc type. Asset utilization, pledged-asset structures, and how digital assets get treated.
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Credit EventsAgency wants four to seven years after a BK. Non-QM programs exist from one day post-discharge — if you know how the seasoning matrices work. The clocks, the compensating factors, and the refinance plan.
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DSCRSTR income is the most misquoted number in DSCR lending. Host-statement programs, projection haircuts, the condotel trap, and how to quote an Airbnb file without walking it back.
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BasicsNon-QM isn't subprime, and it isn't exotic — it's the fastest-growing corner of the mortgage market and most LOs still can't speak it. Here's the map: what Non-QM covers, who funds it, and why it belongs in your bag.
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DSCRDSCR is the gateway drug of Non-QM — one ratio, no DTI, no tax returns, and a borrower type that buys again and again. How the math works, what kills files, and how to price it.
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Asset DepletionRetirees and post-exit founders are rich on the statement and invisible on the 1040. Asset depletion converts the portfolio into qualifying income — and the divisor you pick decides the approval.
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Bank StatementOne in ten American workers is self-employed and most of their tax returns are engineered to show as little as legally possible. Bank statement lending is how you close them — here's the underwriting logic.
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Fix & FlipLTC, rehab funding, and the ARV ceiling — three dials that all have to clear for a flip loan to work. How experience tiers move the numbers and where first-timers actually get funded.
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ITIN & Foreign NationalMillions of ITIN holders and a steady stream of foreign buyers want US real estate — and almost nobody in your market is competing for them. The programs, the documentation, and the referral flywheel.
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JumboPrivate-client jumbo wants an 800-FICO W-2 surgeon. The actual luxury market is entrepreneurs with layered income and the occasional scar. How Non-QM jumbo wins those files.
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Property TypesLitigation, investor concentration, hotel operations — the things that make a condo 'non-warrantable' and the Non-QM shops that finance them anyway. A property-type field guide.
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DSCRInvestors want the liability shield; DSCR programs are built for it. Operating agreements, personal guarantees, and the five documents to collect at application instead of at CTC.
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DSCRIO isn't 2006 nostalgia — it's the lever that turns a 0.94 DSCR decline into a 1.08 approval. When it counts in the ratio, what it does to pricing, and how to present it without flinching.
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BasicsTwenty wholesalers say they 'do Non-QM.' Six questions separate the ones who close weird files from the ones who re-trade them at day 25. A vetting framework for building your stack.
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Bank StatementBank statements, P&L-only, asset depletion, DSCR, true no-ratio — the full doc-type ladder from most to least documentation, and how to pick the rung that derives the most income.
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