Financing is where most first-time rental investors get stuck. The good news: you have more paths than a standard mortgage. A conventional investment-property loan usually offers the best rate if your debt-to-income is clean. A DSCR loan — debt service coverage ratio — qualifies the deal on the property's projected rent instead of your personal income, which is why busy professionals and self-employed high earners lean on it to scale past the DTI ceiling. Owner-occupied and house-hacking strategies can get you into a small multifamily for a fraction of the usual down payment.
The right loan depends on your income shape, your down payment, and your plans. Before you shop, line up two or three lenders, ask each to quote rate, points, and fees in writing, and compare them on true cost over the years you'll actually hold the property — not on the headline rate alone. Getting the financing conversation right is what separates a rental that cash-flows from one that quietly loses money every month.
— The Closing Class