If you are a self-employed investor operating in high-velocity submarkets like Old Fourth Ward or Sandy Springs, you are facing a silent headwind. According to the most recent Federal Reserve Credit Access Survey, mortgage rejection rates in Georgia have hit 25.6%—a decade high.
This means 1 in 4 purchase contracts written by individual investors today will fail at the financing table.
The reason isn’t the property. It isn’t the credit score. It is the paperwork
The Killer: Debt-to-Income (DTI)
The primary deal-killer is the Debt-to-Income (DTI) ratio. Traditional banking models were designed for W2 employees with steady, predictable paychecks. They systematically punish local investors for being tax-efficient business owners.
Here is the trap: Every legitimate write-off on your Schedule C—mileage, depreciation, home office, equipment—is viewed as a “loss” by a traditional underwriter. The better your accountant is at saving you taxes, the lower your “income” looks to a bank.
We see this every day at Investor Underwriting. A client with $500k in gross revenue but only $50k in “taxable income” gets denied for a duplex that clearly pays for itself.
The bank views your tax efficiency as poverty. We view it as intelligence.
The Solution: The Rental Purchase Loan (DSCR)
We utilize our Rental Purchase Loan (also known as a DSCR loan) to bypass this friction entirely. We ignore your personal tax returns and underwrite the asset’s cash flow.
- The Math: If the property’s DSCR (Debt Service Coverage Ratio) is >1.00 (meaning the rent covers the mortgage), we fund.
- The Logic: We underwrite the asset’s potential, not the operator’s history.
Bank vs. Investor Underwriting: The Comparison
| Metric | Traditional Bank | Investor Underwriting |
| Verification | 2 Years Tax Returns | None (Asset Only) |
| Rejection Rate | 25.6% (High) | 0% for DTI |
| Speed | 45-60 Days | 30 Days |
| Loan Limit | Fannie/Freddie Limits | $2M+ (Portfolio) |
Stop letting bank bureaucracy kill your deals. If the asset works, we fund.
Resurrect Your Dead Deal
Do you have a deal that was denied in Q4 due to DTI? Don’t let the contract expire.
Step 1: Gather the Property Address and Contract Price.
Step 2: Email me directly at heather@investorunderwriting.com.
Step 3: I will run the DSCR analysis and give you a “Yes/No” in 4 hours.
Let’s clear the capital.
Heather Sharpe
Closing Specialist | Investor Underwriting