Current DSCR HELOC guidelines, updated from one source.
Every figure in this block comes from one guideline source and updates here when the program changes. These are the second-lien terms; a first-lien line on a paid-off rental follows its own tiers, summarized under the ladder, and the rent test applies to both.
Of the rental’s value, first mortgage included
Total liens on the rental, the first mortgage plus the new line, may reach 70% of value behind a first mortgage you keep; the ladder below shows the first-lien tiers on a paid-off rental, which run to 75% at the top tier.
Credit score for a second-lien line
The program floor on a line behind a first mortgage is a 720 profile; a first-lien line on a rental with no mortgage starts at 700. Higher tiers earn higher ceilings; the largest first-lien lines carry a reduced ceiling of their own.
Automated valuation on lines to $400,000
Lines run from $50,000 to $500,000 behind a first mortgage; lines up to $400,000 use an automated valuation with a property inspection report, and every line above that amount takes a full interior appraisal.
Interest-only, then 25 years of repayment
The draw period is 5 years of interest-only payments, followed by 25 years of repayment on a 30-year maturity; the rate is variable through both periods, and later draws are at least $5,000 each.
| Credit profile | Max combined LTV | Max line | Lien position · valuation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 740+ | 70% | $500,000 | Second lien behind the first mortgage · Automated valuation + inspection to $400,000, full interior appraisal above |
| 720+ | 70% | $500,000 | Second lien behind the first mortgage · Automated valuation + inspection to $400,000, full interior appraisal above |
| 740+ | 75% | $500,000 | First lien on a paid-off rental · Automated valuation + inspection to $400,000, full interior appraisal above |
| 720+ | 70% | $500,000 | First lien on a paid-off rental · Automated valuation + inspection to $400,000, full interior appraisal above |
| 720+ | 65% | $750,000 | First lien on a paid-off rental · Automated valuation + inspection to $400,000, full interior appraisal above |
| 720+ | 65% | $1,000,000 | First lien on a paid-off rental · Automated valuation + inspection to $400,000, full interior appraisal above |
| 700+ | 70% | $500,000 | First lien on a paid-off rental · Automated valuation + inspection to $400,000, full interior appraisal above |
The 70% combined loan-to-value ceiling behind a first mortgage requires a 720 credit profile. A first-lien line on a paid-off rental starts at a 700 profile, reaches 75% loan-to-value at the top tier, and runs to $1,000,000 at 65% on lines above $500,000. The rent must cover the qualifying payment at 1.10 or better.
Current DSCR HELOC snapshot · updated October 29, 2026 · seven tier rows across both lien positions · variable rate through the draw and repayment periods · at least 80% of the line (and $50,000) drawn at closing · later draws from $5,000 · first or second lien position · vesting in the owner’s LLC allowed · no reserves required · 6 months of ownership before the line.
Program parameters shown on this page are wholesale lender guidelines read from Lendmire’s centralized guideline source, subject to change without notice and to full underwriting; they are not an offer, a quote, or a commitment to lend. The line amount, combined loan-to-value, coverage test, and eligibility depend on the valuation, the lease and the rent, the credit profile, the vesting, the property, and the lender’s own calculation. No rate, index, payment, or fee is stated on this page; terms are provided in writing by a licensed loan officer. Lendmire, LLC is a mortgage broker, not a lender, licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages; the lender’s program sheet writes this line in fifteen of those sixteen states. NMLS #2371349. Equal Housing Opportunity.
What a DSCR HELOC is — and how the rent sizes the line.
What makes a DSCR HELOC different from a refinance is that nothing about the first mortgage changes; what makes it different from an ordinary rental HELOC is that the owner’s income never enters the file. In Marfa, the line is written behind the first mortgage, sized by equity and tier, qualified by the rent, and vested in the owner’s name or LLC.
For the program overview, see Lendmire’s DSCR HELOC program, or the statewide guide at DSCR HELOC in Texas.
A line on the rental, behind the mortgage you keep
A DSCR HELOC is revolving credit secured by the rental: you draw what you need during the draw period, pay interest only on what is outstanding, and the balance comes down as you repay. After the draw period the line closes to new draws and the balance repays on an amortizing schedule.
The rent qualifies the line, not your tax returns
Coverage is the income test. A Marfa rental whose rent covers the qualifying payment at the program minimum passes it whatever the owner’s tax returns show, and the tier, the value, the seasoning, and the property list still apply; a rental whose rent falls short does not pass, however strong the owner’s income, because that income is never in the file.
Your credit tier sets the ceiling and the cap
Every tier the program offers is at or above the score at which its tradeline-depth rules are waived, so the tier sets the ceiling and the cap rather than the depth of the credit file. A Marfa investor with a thin personal credit file and a strong rental is still read on the score first and the rent second.
Valuation, the lease, the LLC, and closing
Seasoning matters on a rental: a property bought or refinanced inside the program’s seasoning window waits, and ownership must season before the line closes. A Marfa rental listed for sale in the months before the application is not eligible, and a declining-market flag on the valuation trims the ceiling.
Enter the value, the balance, and the tier, and the calculator shows the ceiling, the cap, the available line, and the valuation path. What it cannot show is the rent test; that depends on the lease, the market rent, and the lender’s qualifying payment, and it is settled in underwriting.
Marfa’s rental equity in figures — and how a line fits it.
Every Marfa file is its own equity story, but the market frames it: the median value, the share of households that own, and the age of the housing stock. These Census figures are context for a line, never the terms of one.
These are context figures, not underwriting inputs. The owner share and the tenure figures matter because they describe the pool of long-held properties, which is where rental equity lines come from. A market of transient ownership produces fewer of them, whatever its median value says.
Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year (2024) housing and population estimates, including tenure, home values, gross rents, and household income.
Distinct Marfa rental neighborhoods, distinct equity pictures.
Across Marfa, the rental stock ranges from condominiums to small multi-unit buildings, and the equity picture ranges with it. The submarkets below show where the ceiling, the cap, and the rent test tend to bind.
Year-round primary residences
Owners who live in Marfa year-round and want a line on their own home are pointed to the HELOC program for primary residences; this program reads a lease, and an owner-occupied home has none. On a one-unit rental at Marfa’s median home value, the second-lien ceiling puts total liens near $175,980 — the line is what remains after the first mortgage balance, and the rent must cover the qualifying payment; a paid-off rental on a first-lien line sits above the second-lien ceiling.
Long-term rentals in a resort market
The program reads a lease, so the resort-market rental that fits is the one leased long-term: a year-round tenant, a lease in place, and a rent the appraiser’s schedule supports. A Marfa property run as a vacation rental is a different file. Median household income in Marfa sits near $44,306 on the latest Census estimate.
Rental condominiums and condotels
A Marfa condominium with a year-round tenant qualifies at the condominium ceiling, the non-warrantable one at the reduced ceiling; a condotel, with its hotel-style operation, is on the ineligible list. About 25% of Marfa’s households rent — roughly 289 renter households on the latest Census estimate.
Entity-held resort rentals
An LLC that holds a leased Marfa rental opens the line without deeding the property out; the entity papers, the lease, the valuation, and the guarantors’ credit make up the file. Roughly 876 Marfa households own their homes on the latest Census estimate — 75% of all households, the pool a rental equity line is written for.
Vacation and short-term rentals
The program requires a lease in place on every subject property, which leaves a Marfa vacation rental run on nightly bookings outside the file as it stands; the owner who converts to a lease, or who holds a leased rental elsewhere, is read on that. Marfa is home to about 2.5K people.
Waterfront and view rentals
High-value Marfa rentals on the water are sized at the program maximum for the tier and lien position, valued by a full appraisal above the threshold, and insured for flood where required before funding. The median owner-occupied home value in Marfa runs near $251,400 on the latest Census estimate.
Submarket descriptions are general patterns, not property-level data. The ceiling, the cap, and the rent test apply the same way in every Marfa neighborhood; what changes from one to another is the equity position, the rent, and the valuation path a given property is likely to present.
Four ways Marfa landlords put a rental equity line to work.
From the next purchase to the next repair, a rental equity line answers needs that arrive on their own schedule. The four uses below are the ones Marfa landlords bring most often; the line is sized by equity and rent, not by the use.
Bridge a sale, a tax bill, or a buyout
Timing problems are capital problems. A DSCR HELOC on a seasoned Marfa rental turns a timing problem into a draw and a repayment, without a refinance and without the owner’s personal income in the file.
Finish a value-add before the permanent loan
The rehab-then-refinance cycle runs on capital between the purchase and the permanent loan. A DSCR HELOC on an existing Marfa rental supplies that capital from equity already earned, qualified on that rental’s rent.
A standing reserve for the portfolio
Portfolio owners treat a line as the working-capital account for their Marfa rentals: draw for the surprise, repay from the next month’s rents, draw again. The line is qualified on one property’s rent and available for all of them.
Fund the next purchase without refinancing
Investors who keep a low first-mortgage rate have no interest in replacing it; a DSCR HELOC lets a Marfa owner draw the next down payment from equity instead. The line is qualified on the rent of the property that secures it, not on the new purchase.
Estimate your Marfa rental’s available credit line before requesting a quote.
Equity is the first gate and rent is the second. This calculator runs the first: value, balance, tier, and lien position against the current program tables for Marfa. The second, whether the rent covers the qualifying payment at the program minimum, is the lender’s call from the lease and the appraiser’s rent schedule.
Marfa rental available-equity calculator
Size the line first, then let the rent decide how much of it the property carries. Every field is yours to change.
Illustrative starting assumptions: a $250,000 rental value near Marfa’s median owner-occupied home value and a $110,000 modeled remaining first-mortgage balance (U.S. Census Bureau). Combined loan-to-value ceilings and line caps follow the current program tables for the lien position and credit tier selected and update from Lendmire’s centralized guideline source on the live page. The rent test is the lender’s: the gross rent must cover the qualifying payment on the whole line at the program’s coverage minimum. Every field is editable.
Illustrative estimate only — not a credit decision, approval, quote, or commitment to lend. The actual line amount, combined loan-to-value, and eligibility depend on the automated valuation or appraisal, the lease and the rent, the credit profile, the vesting, documentation, and full underwriting by the selected wholesale lender; the rate, the payment, and any costs are provided in writing by a licensed loan officer. Minimum score, line-size, coverage, and draw requirements follow the current program snapshot shown on this page. Licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages.
Same rental equity, four very different ways to reach it.
Before choosing, compare: the DSCR HELOC against the ordinary investment-property HELOC, against a DSCR cash-out refinance, and against a bank statement HELOC. Each card below says who it fits in Marfa and what it costs the owner in paperwork and in the first mortgage.
A rent-qualified line, an income-qualified line, a cash-out refinance, or a bank statement line.
For the Marfa investor whose returns understate the business, whose rentals sit in an LLC, or who simply wants the property to qualify itself. The first mortgage and its rate are untouched; the line is sized by equity and carried by the rent. Fewer documents, a tighter ceiling.
For the Marfa landlord with clean tax returns, room in the debt ratio, and a rental titled in their own name. The income-qualified line is the higher-leverage route; the DSCR HELOC is the route when the returns, the ratio, or the LLC make that file impossible. For the income-qualified route, see Lendmire’s investment property HELOC.
For the Marfa owner whose first-mortgage rate is no longer worth keeping, or who needs more of the equity than a second-lien line can reach. The refinance resets the whole loan; the line adds to it. Compare the blended cost of the two before choosing. For the refinance route, see the investment property cash-out refinance.
For the Marfa self-employed owner whose business deposits tell a better story than the returns, on a property held personally. Where the rental’s own rent covers the line, the DSCR HELOC asks for less; where it does not, the bank statement line reads the owner instead. For the deposit-qualified route, see the bank statement HELOC.
What to prepare for a Marfa scenario review.
A DSCR HELOC file is shorter than an income-qualified one, because the owner’s income is not in it. What the lender needs is the property’s file: the lease, the rent, the mortgage statement, title, insurance, and the entity papers if an LLC holds the deed.
This is a general preparation guide, not a universal checklist. The selected lender may request additional information based on the lease, the entity, the property, the lien position, and the credit profile. Nothing here is legal or tax advice.
Local details that can change the line.
The program is simple on paper and particular in practice. These are the particulars that move Marfa files: what the lender reads, what it waits on, and what it declines.
Use these checks to keep the Marfa file clean and fundable.
The ceiling and the cap are the start, not the answer. On a Marfa rental the valuation can land under the owner’s estimate, the lease can read under the market rent, the tier can land a step lower than an app suggested, and the seasoning clock can still be running. Each is a card below.
- Confirm the vesting: Whether every member of the entity will sign as a guarantor on the line.
- Confirm the dates: The date of the most recent purchase or refinance of the property, note date to note date.
- Confirm the rent test: How much line a rent of that size carries at the program’s coverage minimum, which the lender settles from the qualifying payment.
Title in your name or your LLC
Vesting in a limited liability company is allowed on the program, which is the reason many Marfa landlords with entity-held rentals choose it. The entity’s papers go in the file and the members sign as guarantors on the line.
The seasoning clock on purchases and refinances
Seasoning is one reason a strong Marfa file waits. The equity may be there from day one, especially on a discounted purchase or a quick rehab, but the program reads the calendar before it reads the value, and the calendar does not negotiate.
The rent must cover the qualifying payment
Vacancy is read strictly: a single-family rental needs a lease in place, and a two-to-four-unit property may carry one vacant unit. A Marfa rental between tenants waits for the new lease before the line closes, and the new rent is read against the market schedule.
Second lien behind the mortgage, or first lien on a paid-off rental
A third position is not on the program: one first mortgage and the line, or the line alone. A Marfa rental that already carries a second lien does not fit the program as it stands; the program writes one standalone line, never a third position behind two.
The closing draw and the later draws
The closing draw is the largest draw the line will see, and the later draws each clear their own minimum; the rate on all of them is variable, and nothing on this page states it. A Marfa landlord plans the line on the draw rules and takes the rate in writing from the loan officer.
From a Marfa rental prequalification to a funded line.
A DSCR HELOC on a Marfa rental moves in four steps, and the first two are conversations. The scenario review sizes the line on the value, the balance, the tier, and the rent; the prequalification confirms it; verification and valuation prove it; closing funds it.
Scenario review
The review starts with four numbers and one document: value, balance, score, rent, and the lease. From them the loan officer reads the tier, the ceiling, the cap, and whether the rent carries the line, and names anything in the file that needs a check before prequalification.
Prequalification
With the credit report in hand the tier is fixed, and with the lease in hand the rent test is run. A Marfa prequalification settles the two gates that size the line and lists what the valuation and the title search will confirm.
Verification and valuation
Verification proves what prequalification assumed. Value, title, insurance, entity standing, the first-mortgage balance, and the rent are each confirmed from their own documents, and the line is finalized on the verified figures before closing documents are drawn.
Closing and funding
The last step is the simplest: signatures, recording, the closing draw. A Marfa landlord leaves closing with a recorded line behind the first mortgage, a draw in hand, and the balance of the line available on request through the draw period.
A brokerage that matches the line to the rental.
Three reasons Marfa landlords bring a rental line to a broker rather than a bank: the program is placed through select wholesale lenders, the file is read against more than one route, and the entity on title is not a problem to be solved before the conversation starts.
Four routes, the right one quoted
A landlord whose returns are clean may do better on the income-qualified line; one whose first-mortgage rate is poor may do better on a refinance. The comparison is made on the file, not on the product, and the Marfa owner sees it.
The entity stays on title
Vesting in an entity is the first question a portfolio owner asks. The program answers it with yes, and the file is built around it from the first call: the operating agreement, the good standing, the guarantors, and the non-borrowing acknowledgments, in order.
Licensed, in writing, the lender never named
Lendmire arranges a rental line under its consumer licensing even on an investment property: the disclosures and the written terms that attach to a licensed home equity line travel with the file, in every state the program is written.
Trusted by landlords & investors alike.
Marfa DSCR HELOC FAQs
Common questions, answered plainly. Where a figure matters, the snapshot carries it; where a judgment matters, a licensed loan officer makes it.
What is a DSCR HELOC?
It is the DSCR idea applied to a line of credit: the rental qualifies itself. A Marfa landlord keeps the first mortgage, opens a revolving line behind it sized by value, balance, and credit tier, and proves only that the rent covers the line’s qualifying payment. Vesting in an entity is allowed.
Can the rental stay in my LLC?
Yes. Vesting in a limited liability company is allowed on investment property, and the line is recorded in the entity’s name with the members as guarantors. The entity’s articles, operating agreement, and good standing go in the file, and a member on title who is not a borrower signs a non-borrowing owner acknowledgment. The deed does not move.
How is the rent test calculated?
The property’s gross rent is set against a stressed, fully amortizing payment on the full line, and the ratio must reach the coverage minimum in the snapshot. Nothing about the owner’s income enters the calculation; a Marfa landlord with no tax returns at all qualifies if the rent does.
Is an appraisal required?
Lines to the valuation threshold shown in the snapshot use an automated valuation plus a property inspection report, or a full interior appraisal; lines above it require a full interior appraisal. Appraisal waivers are not accepted, and a model that misses the program’s confidence standard sends the file to a full interior appraisal.
How do the draw period and repayment work?
The draw period runs interest-only on whatever balance is outstanding, and the line is open to new draws through it. When it ends the line closes to draws and the balance repays on a fully amortizing schedule over the repayment period; the years for each are in the snapshot. The rate is variable through both.
Do I need tax returns or W-2s?
None. The income file is replaced by the rent file: the lease, receipts where the lease runs above market, and the market-rent schedule. The credit report is still pulled, the valuation is still ordered, and the entity is still reviewed; the owner’s earnings simply are not.
What is the rate on a DSCR HELOC?
A variable rate through both periods, disclosed in writing for the file. Lendmire does not publish rates or indexes on program pages, and this page does not state a payment; the calculator sizes the line and leaves the rate to the written quote.
Do I need reserves or cash to close?
No reserves and no cash to close. That is part of the program’s appeal to a landlord whose cash is in the properties rather than the bank: the equity and the rent carry the file, and nothing is held back as a reserve requirement.
What does the closing look like on an LLC-held rental?
The line records against the rental in the LLC’s name; the members sign as guarantors; any member on title who is not a borrower signs a non-borrowing owner acknowledgment and the security instrument. Insurance is updated to cover both liens, and the closing draw funds after any rescission period the law provides.
What credit history does the program expect?
A recent year without a thirty-day mortgage late and the program’s seasoning on any bankruptcy or foreclosure-family event; tradeline depth is waived at every tier the program offers. None of it involves the owner’s income; all of it is on the report.
Start with the scenario, not the application.
Request a quote and a loan officer sizes the line on the Marfa rental’s figures, compares it with the income-qualified line and the cash-out refinance, and puts the terms in writing. The first mortgage stays where it is.
This guide covers Marfa — for the statewide ceilings, tiers, and state rules, see DSCR HELOC in Texas, part of Lendmire’s DSCR HELOC program.
Nearby markets in Texas: Odessa · Midland · El Paso · San Angelo · Eagle Pass · Lubbock · Abilene · Fredericksburg
Other loan programs in Marfa: DSCR Loans in Marfa, TX · Super Jumbo DSCR Loans in Marfa, TX · Short-Term Rental Loans in Marfa, TX · Investment Property Cash-Out Refinance in Marfa, TX · Hard Money Loans in Marfa, TX · Bank Statement Loans in Marfa, TX · Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loans in Marfa, TX · Bank Statement HELOC in Marfa, TX · Investment Property HELOC in Marfa, TX