DSCR calculator
Enter the rent, loan structure, taxes, insurance, and association dues to estimate the property's debt-service coverage ratio.
Calculator results are estimates for education, not a quote, prequalification, or approval. Verify every figure with your loan officer before making decisions.
In short
Key takeaways
- DSCR = gross monthly rent ÷ PITIA. A 1.00 means the rent exactly covers the payment, nothing more.
- As of mid-2026, programs commonly approve from 1.00 up; below 1.00 usually means a no-ratio program or a bigger down payment.
- Lenders set market rent from the appraiser's Form 1007 rent schedule, not from your projections.
- Insurance is the input that sinks DSCR deals in high-premium markets: in our worked example, a $200 monthly premium jump cuts the ratio from 1.17 to 1.10.
Written and reviewed by the Intel Loans, Inc. lending team · NMLS #2858705Updated July 2026
For the investor
The property qualifies, not your tax return.
A DSCR loan is scored on whether the rent covers the payment, so the number above is the number a lender starts from. Above 1.0 the property pays for itself; most desks want a cushion over that. No W-2s, no personal income, no two years of returns.
Talk through a DSCR fileThe formula
How lenders actually run the number
The debt service coverage ratio answers one question: does this property pay for itself? The underwriter takes the gross monthly rent and divides it by PITIA, the full monthly cost of owning the place. Principal and interest on the loan, one-twelfth of the annual property taxes, one-twelfth of the insurance premium, and the monthly HOA dues if the property has them.
Nothing about you goes into the ratio. No tax returns, no W-2s, no personal debt-to-income math. That is why DSCR loans exist: the property qualifies on its own income. Your credit score and reserves still matter, but the deal itself lives or dies on this one division problem.
One wrinkle worth knowing: on interest-only loans, many programs compute the ratio using the interest-only payment instead of the amortizing one. The lower payment lifts the ratio, sometimes enough to move a deal from marginal to inside a program's published minimum. Flip the toggle above and watch it happen.
| Situation | What lenders use | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Tenant in place | The lease, checked against the appraiser's Form 1007 market rent. Many programs take the lower of the two. | A below-market lease can drag the ratio down even when the market rent covers. |
| Vacant, or a purchase | The Form 1007 Single-Family Comparable Rent Schedule, prepared with the appraisal. | Your pro forma does not count. Budget the deal on the appraiser's number, not the listing agent's. |
| Short-term rental | Varies most by lender: 12 months of host statements, a market-data projection with a haircut, or only the long-term market rent. | The strictest desks ignore nightly income entirely. Match the lender to the strategy first. |
Worked example
A St. Petersburg rental, start to finish
A hypothetical example, with round numbers in a high-insurance market like Florida. You are buying a single-family rental for $500,000 with 25% down, so the loan is $375,000. We use the example note rate preloaded in the calculator above on a 30-year amortization, a number you would replace with your actual quote.
| Line item | Monthly | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Principal & interest | $2,558 | Standard amortization on $375,000 |
| Property taxes | $500 | $6,000 per year, a plausible Pinellas County bill |
| Insurance | $400 | $4,800 per year, a realistic quote for an older rental in a high-premium coastal market |
| HOA dues | $0 | Single-family home, no association |
| Total PITIA | $3,458 | The denominator |
| Rent | $3,800 | Appraiser's Form 1007 market rent |
| DSCR | 1.10 | 3,800 ÷ 3,458. Workable, not strong. |
A 1.10 is within many programs' published minimums, with pricing adjustments; approval depends on the lender's full underwriting of the file. To reach the 1.25 line where better tiers commonly start, the rent would need to be about $4,323, or the PITIA would need to fall. In practice the levers are a bigger down payment, an interest-only structure, or a cheaper insurance bind. Which brings us to the number most out-of-state buyers get wrong.
The insurance problem
Insurance is the input that quietly sinks the ratio.
Property-insurance premiums in high-risk markets are among the highest in the country, and wind or hazard coverage is the line that can sink a ratio. National calculators default to national averages, so buyers run their numbers with an insurance line that is far below what the toughest markets cost. In the hardest markets — coastal Florida is the textbook case — carriers may decline the risk outright.
The same deal, two premiums
Take the St. Petersburg example. At $2,400 a year in insurance, PITIA is $3,258 and the ratio is 1.17. At $4,800 a year, a quote difference of $200 a month, PITIA rises to $3,458 and the ratio drops to 1.10. One phone call to an insurance agent moved the deal a full pricing tier.
Get a real quote before you write the offer, ask about wind mitigation credits, and read our plain walkthrough of what lenders require in a hard wind market like Florida. The full program mechanics live in our DSCR loan guide.
Reading your result
Where the market draws its lines
These are the tiers we see across DSCR programs as of mid-2026. They describe the market, not an offer sheet; every lender cuts its grid a little differently.
| Ratio | How lenders read it | What it means for your file |
|---|---|---|
| 1.25 and up | Strong coverage | Reaches most programs' better pricing tiers; the widest lender choice. |
| 1.10 to 1.25 | Solid | Within most programs' published minimums; modest pricing adjustments at some desks. |
| 1.00 to 1.10 | Break-even territory | Within many programs' published minimums; expect adjustments and closer scrutiny of reserves. |
| 0.75 to 1.00 | Sub-ratio | A smaller set of programs; larger down payments and firmer pricing. |
| No-ratio | Ratio not measured | Qualifies without the calculation. The biggest down payment requirements in the space. |
What a DSCR loan costs you
DSCR pricing sits above comparable agency investor loans because the lender is underwriting the property instead of your tax returns; the convenience is priced in. Down payments typically run 20 to 25 percent. Most programs want three to six months of PITIA in reserves after closing.
The one that surprises people: prepayment penalties are standard on DSCR loans. These are business-purpose loans, and most carry a stepdown penalty that fades over the first several years of the term. If your plan is to sell or refinance quickly, ask for the exact penalty schedule before you commit, and have us price a shorter or bought-out penalty against the standard structure. Building or rehabbing before you rent? Price the build side with the construction loan calculator first, since a DSCR refinance is the usual exit.
Questions we actually get
Is DSCR based on gross rent or net rent?
Gross scheduled rent. Lenders do not subtract management fees, maintenance, or utilities from the numerator; the required cushion above 1.00 is how the ratio accounts for those costs. A handful of programs apply a vacancy factor to short-term rental income, so ask before you count every projected dollar.
Can I use Airbnb income to qualify?
It depends on the desk. The strictest programs score a short-term rental on the appraiser's long-term market rent, which usually understates what the property earns. Others accept 12 months of actual host statements, and some will underwrite to a market-data projection with a haircut. If your deal only works on nightly rates, tell us up front so we match you to a lender that counts them.
What happens if my ratio is below 1.00?
The deal is not dead. Sub-ratio and no-ratio programs exist for exactly this case; they trade a bigger down payment and firmer pricing for ignoring the ratio. The other levers are a larger down payment, an interest-only structure, or negotiating the price until the numbers cover.
Does my personal income matter on a DSCR loan?
No tax returns, no W-2s, no personal debt-to-income calculation. That is the point of the product. Your credit score, your down payment, and your liquid reserves still matter, and most programs want to see a few months of payments in the bank after closing.
Can I close in an LLC?
Usually, yes. Entity vesting is routine on DSCR loans because they are business-purpose financing, and most investors close in an LLC for liability planning. Expect to sign a personal guaranty; the entity holds title, but the lender still underwrites you.
What interest rate should I type in?
Whatever quote you are actually evaluating, or your honest expectation if you do not have one yet. The calculator treats the rate as your input, not a promise from anyone. When you are ready, we price the real scenario across our wholesale partners and put it in writing.
Run the deal past a human desk.
Send us the address, the rent, and your target down payment. We price it across our wholesale DSCR partners and hand back the ratio, the tiers it hits, and the payment in writing.
This is not a commitment to lend or an offer of credit. All loan approvals are subject to credit review, underwriting, and property evaluation. Programs, terms, and conditions are subject to change without notice.
Intel Loans, Inc., NMLS #2858705. Licensed in Florida. Verify our licensing at nmlsconsumeraccess.org. Equal Housing Opportunity.
Calculator results are estimates for education, not a quote, prequalification, or approval. Verify every figure with your loan officer before making decisions.
Any rates shown are hypothetical examples you enter for estimation, not offers. Actual rates and terms depend on your application and may change or be unavailable at commitment or closing.