See if a rental qualifies for a DSCR loan — and if it actually covers its debt.
DSCR — debt service coverage ratio — answers one blunt question: does the property's income cover its loan payment? At 1.0 the rent covers the payment exactly, with nothing to spare. Above 1.0 there's cushion; below it, the property needs money from you every month. Lenders read it the way a doctor reads a pulse.
A DSCR loan qualifies you on the property's income, not your personal income. No W-2 (your employer's wage statement), no tax-return gymnastics — the lender asks whether the rent covers PITIA: the monthly P&I (principal and interest, the loan payment itself) plus property taxes, insurance, and any HOA (homeowners association) dues. That's why investors with complicated tax returns and self-employed buyers reach for DSCR loans — the building does the qualifying.
Here's the catch this calculator makes visible: the lender's DSCR uses gross rent — no maintenance, no management, no vacancy. Your real cushion is NOI (net operating income — the rent left after those operating expenses) measured against the loan payment. A deal can clear the lender's bar at 1.25 and still feed on your checking account once real expenses show up. Qualifying for the loan and the deal actually working are two different tests. The full Rentals analyzer runs the second one: real expenses, vacancy, stress scenarios, and a verdict you can defend.