Can you get a DSCR loan for an Airbnb or short-term rental?
Yes — across the wholesale market, DSCR programs commonly finance short-term rentals like Airbnb and VRBO. It's a standard non-QM offering, not an exotic exception, and instead of a signed 12-month lease, programs work from the property's actual hosting history, a short-term-rental market-data projection, or the appraiser's long-term market rent.
How income gets verified varies meaningfully by program, and local short-term-rental zoning and permit rules matter as much as the loan itself. Choice Home Mortgage shops a panel of DSCR lenders to find the one that reads your property's numbers most favorably — call owner Esther Buede at (949) 522-7310.
The longer answer.
Programs typically count short-term-rental income one of three ways: a trailing twelve months of actual results (host platform statements, property-manager statements, or bank deposits); a market-data projection built from comparable short-term rentals — which some programs accept on purchases only; or a fallback to the appraiser's long-term market-rent opinion, ignoring the short-term income entirely. Which method a program uses can change the qualifying number substantially for the same property.
As of 2026, most programs also apply an expense haircut to gross short-term-rental revenue before running the ratio — roughly 20% is typical, though the exact figure varies by program. The haircut accounts for vacancy, seasonality, platform fees, and cleaning, so the ratio reflects what the property realistically nets rather than what its best month grossed.
Before the loan, check the local layer: city short-term-rental ordinances, permit requirements, and HOA restrictions can make or break the strategy regardless of financing — no lender can underwrite around a property that isn't allowed to operate. And because guidelines genuinely differ program to program, we shop the panel rather than treating any one lender's read as the market's answer.
A number on a webpage is never a quote for your file. The figures on this page reflect what wholesale lending programs typically offer — and lender guidelines, overlays, and matrices genuinely change all the time. A range that is typical this quarter can move next quarter, and the lender that fits a given scenario best may sit outside every figure here. That churn is not a flaw in the page; it is how wholesale lending works, and it is exactly why a broker who watches the matrices beats any static webpage — including this one. For today's guidelines across the lender panel as they apply to your situation, call owner Esther Buede at (949) 522-7310 — the check costs nothing, and it is the only number that counts.
Related reading: DSCR loans hub · DSCR calculator — run your numbers · DSCR loan requirements in California · DSCR loan vs bank statement loan · Start your application
Want the answer for YOUR file, not the general one?
One call with owner Esther Buede — no queue, no pressure. She'll tell you honestly what fits your situation, or that nothing does yet.