Lenders Set LTV On A Super Jumbo Loan By Occupancy — The Quick Read: Occupancy is the first filter, before loan size even matters. A primary residence gets the most leverage, a second home gets less, and an investment property gets the least — and every ceiling drops further as the loan balance climbs. Across select wholesale programs, purchase leverage on a primary home can run to 85% in the low-$1 million to $1.5 million band, while an investment property of the same size typically caps around 80%, and both compress hard once you cross $3 million.
What Determines LTV On A Super Jumbo Loan?
Loan-to-value on a super jumbo loan is set by two things stacked together: how you’ll use the property, and how big the loan is. Occupancy comes first. A lender decides whether you’re buying a primary home, a second home, or a rental — and that decision sets the leverage ceiling before anyone even looks at the loan amount.
Then size takes over. Leverage doesn’t hold flat as the balance grows. It steps down in bands, and it steps down faster for non-owner-occupied property than for a home you’ll live in. That’s the whole mechanic in one sentence — occupancy sets the lane, size narrows it.
Key Terms Defined
LTV (loan-to-value): the loan amount divided by the property’s value, expressed as a percentage — an 80% LTV loan means 20% equity or down payment. These specifics are subject to lender guidelines and a full review of property, leverage, and credit.
Occupancy type: how the borrower will use the property — primary residence (you live there most of the year), second home (you use it part-time but keep exclusive control), or investment property (a rental you don’t occupy).
Super jumbo loan: an informal market term for a loan well above standard jumbo size, with no fixed government definition — it’s simply whatever tier an individual lender treats as its top bracket.
DSCR loan: a business-purpose loan for rental property that qualifies primarily on the property’s own rental income covering the payment, subject to lender guidelines, rather than the borrower’s personal income.
Cash-out refinance: a refinance that pulls equity out as cash, which typically caps at a lower LTV than a purchase or rate-and-term refinance on the same property.
Reserves: liquid funds a borrower must have left over after closing, measured in months of housing payment.
The Occupancy Ladder: LTV By Property Type And Loan Size
Across select lenders in Lendmire’s wholesale network, occupancy-specific leverage typically looks like this at common super jumbo bands. These are ceilings on the strongest files, subject to full underwriting — not guarantees.
| Loan Size | Primary Residence (Purchase / Cash-Out) | Second Home (Purchase / Cash-Out) | Investment Property (Purchase / Cash-Out) |
|---|---|---|---|
| $1M–$1.5M | 85% / 80% | 80% / 75% | 80% / 75% |
| $2M–$2.5M | 80% / 70% | 80% / 70% | 80% / 70% |
| $3M–$3.5M | 75% / 65% | 65% / 55% | 60% / 55% |
| $4M–$5M | 65% / 60% (case by case) | 65% / 55% (case by case) | 65% / 55% (case by case) |
| $5M–$6M | 60% / 55% | 55% / 50% | 55% / 50% |
| $10M–$20M | 55% / 50% | 50% / 45% | 50% / 45% |
Notice the pattern. Second home and investment property track close together in the middle bands, then investment property falls behind at $3 million to $3.5 million — that’s where portfolio investors treat non-owner-occupied risk as its own separate discount, on top of size. Every figure above $4 million goes through case-by-case review before it’s even submitted. Never expect a flat “up to” number at that size — the file gets looked at individually.
Why Occupancy Changes The Leverage Lenders Will Extend
Occupancy is a proxy for default risk, and lenders price it that way long before they think about loan size. A borrower’s primary home is the last thing they stop paying for in financial distress. A rental is often the first.
That difference shows up directly in credit floors, too. The portfolio bank-statement program typically runs a 660 credit floor, and once a loan crosses the super jumbo overlay line — above $3.5 million on a primary residence, or above $3 million on a second home or investment property — that floor typically rises to 700, alongside a 48-month seasoning requirement on any credit event and a clean 0x30x24 housing payment history. Non-owner-occupied risk gets a second layer of scrutiny at the exact size where losses hurt the most.
Scotsman Guide reports that non-QM loans, DSCR structures included, are ineligible for purchase by the government-sponsored enterprises — which means there’s no standardized leverage grid across the market at all. Every lender sets its own ladder. That’s exactly why occupancy-based differences can look sharper at one lender than another, and why shopping the file matters on a large balance.
DSCR loans are designed for non-owner-occupied investment properties. Because they are business-purpose investor loans, they are reviewed differently from a standard owner-occupied mortgage. If a pure rental purchase is what you’re financing, that’s usually where the conversation moves — Lendmire’s complete DSCR loans guide walks through how that qualification path works from the property’s cash flow rather than traditional personal-income documentation.
How Loan Size Compounds The Occupancy Discount
Leverage doesn’t fall in a straight line as the loan grows — it falls in bands, and each band tightens for a reason. A $1.5 million investment property purchase can still see 80% leverage on a strong file. Push that same purchase to $3.5 million and the ceiling drops to roughly 60%, because concentration risk stacks directly on top of occupancy risk. Terms vary by lender guidelines, property type, leverage, credit profile, and full file review.
Think of it as two dials turning at once. Occupancy sets the starting discount. Size then turns a second dial that shrinks leverage further, and it turns faster for a rental than for a primary home. Lendmire’s breakdown of how lenders set the debt ceiling covers the size side of this in more depth — worth a look if the loan you’re sizing sits above $3 million.
Cash-out proceeds compress even more than purchase leverage at every occupancy type. On the portfolio bank-statement program, cash-out proceeds run uncapped at or below 60% LTV, but above that threshold the cash-in-hand cap typically drops to $1,500,000. A 75% cash-out ceiling applies to standard rentals, while short-term-rental collateral typically tops out closer to 70%, so the property’s use inside the “investment” occupancy bucket still matters.
What The Appraisal Has To Do With Your LTV
The appraisal doesn’t just confirm value — it validates the income that supports leverage on a rental. On a one-unit investment property, appraisers commonly use Fannie Mae’s Form 1007, the Single-Family Comparable Rent Schedule, to estimate monthly market rent against at least three comparable rentals. Non-QM lenders don’t follow agency eligibility rules, but appraiser panels overlap, so a 1007-style rent schedule is common on super jumbo investment files too.
That rent figure feeds the coverage ratio a lender uses to size the loan, which in turn interacts with the LTV ceiling on the ladder above. Underwriters typically use the lower of the appraised market rent or the actual signed lease when calculating that ratio — treating the lease as automatically controlling is a frequent, and costly, misread for investors modeling a deal before they’ve ordered the appraisal.
Short-term rentals complicate this. Form 1007 is built around monthly lease comparables, not nightly income, so a file secured by a short-term rental needs a documentation workaround before the rent supports the ratio at all — one more reason short-term-rental collateral often lands at a lower cash-out ceiling than a standard long-term rental.
Edge Cases That Break The Standard Occupancy Rules
A few situations don’t fit the clean three-bucket model, and they trip up investors who assume the standard ladder applies automatically.
- Second homes and DSCR structures don’t mix. A second home requires part-year borrower occupancy and exclusive control. A DSCR loan depends structurally on non-owner-occupied use, so it cannot finance a second home, full stop.
- Converting a primary residence to a rental is possible, but conditional. A borrower moving into a new primary residence can often get rental income considered on a DSCR refinance of the vacated property — provided lease and payment documentation for the new home is supplied. Living rent-free elsewhere without a genuine new primary residence typically disqualifies the file.
- Leasebacks and related-party leases don’t convert occupancy. A borrower can’t lease a property back to themselves and call it non-owner-occupied. A seller staying on after closing triggers extra review before the file gets treated as clean investment occupancy.
- Titling in an LLC doesn’t change occupancy. Actual use of the property controls the classification, not the name on the deed.
- Rural and unusually large parcels fall outside the standard ladder. Rural investment property typically caps at 80% on ten acres or less and never above $3 million — anything larger goes to case-by-case review regardless of occupancy.
Common Misconceptions About Occupancy And LTV
“Bank-statement loans and DSCR loans have the same occupancy rules because they’re both non-QM.” They don’t. Non-QM describes how income gets documented, not how occupancy works. Bank-statement loans can finance a primary home, a second home, or a rental. DSCR loans are limited to non-owner-occupied rentals only.
“A second home can never be rented.” Occasional rental is generally fine as long as the borrower keeps exclusive control. What breaks second-home eligibility is a rental pool, a timeshare structure, or full management-company control of bookings.
“Super jumbo has an official size cutoff.” It doesn’t. The only government-set figure in this conversation is the annual conforming loan limit — everything above the applicable county limit is simply “jumbo,” and “super jumbo” is a market-coined tier above that with no regulatory line.
Occupancy also decides which rulebook applies at the regulatory level, before LTV is even discussed. Loans made for a business purpose on a non-owner-occupied rental, where the borrower won’t occupy the property more than fourteen days a year, generally fall outside the Ability-to-Repay/Qualified Mortgage rule that governs consumer-purpose loans — which is part of why a DSCR rental purchase can be underwritten on the property’s cash flow instead of a personal debt-to-income calculation.
Tax treatment can depend on how the funds are used and how the property is held; investors should keep clear records and speak with a qualified tax professional before relying on any deduction.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does an investment property always get less leverage than a primary residence at the same loan size? Generally yes, though the gap narrows or widens depending on the exact band. In the $1 million to $2.5 million range the gap between primary and investment leverage is often just a few points. Above $3 million it widens sharply, because non-owner-occupied risk and concentration risk start stacking together at that size.
Can I use rental income to qualify instead of traditional personal-income documentation on a super jumbo loan? On a DSCR structure, yes — qualification runs primarily on the property’s rental income covering the monthly obligation, subject to lender guidelines. On a bank-statement program, qualification instead runs on personal or business deposits over 12 or 24 months, which works for primary, second-home, or investment occupancy alike.
What happens if a loan crosses $4 million? Every loan above $4 million typically goes to case-by-case review before submission, regardless of occupancy. Expect underwriters to weigh credit depth, reserves, and the specific property more heavily than the published ladder alone.
Do reserve requirements change by occupancy? Reserves scale mainly by loan size rather than occupancy on most files — typically 3 months to $500,000, 6 months to $1.5 million, and 9 months above that, plus roughly 2 months per additional financed property up to a 12-month maximum. First-time investors often see a flat 12-month reserve requirement.
Is there a way to get higher leverage on a large rental purchase than the standard ladder shows? Lendmire’s coverage of super jumbo hard money financing with no fixed maximum looks at alternative structures some investors consider when a conventional non-QM ladder doesn’t fit the deal — worth a look for outsized or unusual files.
If you’re buying or refinancing a rental property and want to see how the numbers work, Lendmire can help you compare DSCR loan options based on the property’s income, your credit profile, the leverage available, and your investment goals.
For current guidelines and terms, see Lendmire’s super jumbo bank statement loan programs page.
Self-employed borrowers can compare both super jumbo programs on Lendmire’s self-employed mortgages page.
About Lendmire
Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a mortgage brokerage focused on DSCR investor financing, helping arrange programs through wholesale and investor-lending channels in 40 markets, including Washington, D.C. DSCR loans are evaluated by the lender on property cash flow rather than personal income, subject to lender guidelines, supporting LLC closings and accommodating investors with four or more financed properties. Scotsman Guide Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.
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References
1. Scotsman Guide – Which Groups Are Driving Non-QM Lending
2. Fannie Mae Form 1007 – Single-Family Comparable Rent Schedule
3. Pennymac Correspondent Seller Guide – Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Rule
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
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Legal disclosures. Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a state-licensed mortgage brokerage that arranges financing through wholesale lender relationships. Lendmire is not a direct lender, depository institution, or registered financial advisor. The discussion above is general informational content about real estate financing — it is not financial, legal, or tax advice, and readers should consult licensed professionals for guidance on their individual circumstances. Loan inquiries are subject to lender underwriting; this article does not represent a commitment to lend. Loan terms, rates, and qualification standards vary by borrower, property, and state, and are subject to change at any time. Equal Housing Opportunity. NMLS Consumer Access: nmlsconsumeraccess.org.
