How to Qualify for a 24-Month Bank Statement Loan on a Condo

The Quick Read: Qualifying means passing two separate reviews. The lender turns two years of your deposits into qualifying income, and it also decides whether the condo project itself is acceptable collateral. Strong income does not rescue a weak building, and a perfect building does not rescue messy statements.

• Qualifying income comes from your deposit averages, minus ineligible credits and a lender-set expense factor on business accounts.
• The full condo payment, HOA dues included, goes into your debt-to-income test.
• The condo project gets its own review, and a non-warrantable building changes the program, the pricing and sometimes the eligibility.
• How you occupy the unit sets the leverage ceiling and the disclosure rules.
• Every file is underwritten individually, subject to lender guidelines. Nothing here is a commitment to lend.

What a 24-Month Bank Statement Loan Actually Is

A bank statement loan is reviewed around documented income under the applicable program, subject to lender guidelines. The lender reads your deposits instead of your traditional personal-income documentation. That matters for self-employed buyers whose returns show small income after depreciation and write-offs.

The “24-month” part is the lookback. The lender averages two years of statements rather than one. Across the wholesale network Lendmire works with, the standard documentation is 12 months of business or personal statements. Some lenders prefer or require 24, and each lender’s program sheet sets the rule. Lendmire is a broker. It arranges these loans through select lenders and does not underwrite or approve them.

A condo adds a second layer. The statements prove you. They say nothing about the building.

For the broader program picture, Lendmire’s complete DSCR loans guide explains how the rental-income alternative compares. Lendmire’s full walkthrough of 24-month bank statement loans on condos covers the same subject from the program side.

Key Terms Defined

Bank statement loan: a mortgage that is reviewed around average deposits in your bank accounts instead of tax-return income.

Expense factor: the percentage a lender removes from business deposits to cover overhead before counting the rest as income.

Debt-to-income ratio (DTI): your total monthly debts divided by your qualifying monthly income.

PITIA: principal, interest, taxes, insurance and association dues, which together make up the full monthly condo obligation.

Warrantable condo: a project that meets standard eligibility rules for owner mix, finances, completion and legal status.

Non-warrantable condo: a project that fails one or more of those rules. The label describes the project, not the quality of your unit or your strength as a borrower.

Condotel: a condo building run partly like a hotel, often with a rental pool or front desk services.

Reserves: liquid savings left after closing, usually counted in months of housing payment.

How Underwriters Turn Deposits Into Income

Underwriters follow a predictable sequence. Knowing it lets you prepare the file before anyone asks.

1. Choose the account set. Business statements, personal statements or both. The lender ties the deposits to your ownership of the business, so a mismatch between the account name and your ownership stake is a common failure point.

2. Gather consecutive statements. A 24-month file needs every month, every page. A missing month can force the underwriter to restart the averaging.

3. Remove ineligible credits. Transfers between your own accounts and one-time windfalls come out. Large unexplained deposits get excluded unless you source them with a sale contract, payoff letter or gift letter.

4. Average and apply the expense factor. The lender totals eligible deposits, divides by the number of months, and on business accounts backs out an expense factor. The lender sets that factor from your business type and profit-and-loss picture. An accountant-prepared ratio can support a lower factor, but the underwriter tests it against actual account activity. Personal statements are usually treated more conservatively.

5. Compare income to debts. The monthly income figure goes into your DTI like paycheck income. The debts include the full condo PITIA, plus your other obligations.

6. Check credit, reserves and funds to close.

7. Order the property review. That includes the appraisal and the condo documents.

Four things decide most outcomes: the expense factor, the cleanliness of your deposit history, your DTI after HOA dues, and the condo project’s eligibility. Reserves commonly sit around six months of the housing payment across network programs.

Two Reviews: You and the Building

The borrower file and the condo project are underwritten on separate tracks. Your statements answer one question: can you carry this payment? The project review answers another: is this building acceptable collateral?

Here is the practical consequence. You can have flawless deposits and still land in a different program because the association has a problem. The reverse also holds. A clean building cannot lift thin income.

The project review draws on the appraisal for a condo unit (form 1073), the association’s budget and financials, the master insurance policy and a project questionnaire. If the unit is a rental, an appraiser may also complete a rent schedule (form 1007). Ask for the association documents early, because the association supplies them, not you or the lender.

What Makes a Condo Non-Warrantable?

A condo turns non-warrantable when the project, not the unit, trips an eligibility rule. The usual triggers fall into a few groups:

• Completion and control: the project is unfinished, or the developer has not turned HOA control over to owners.
• Ownership mix: too many units are rented out, or one entity owns a large share.
• Legal and financial health: active litigation, pending special assessments, delinquent dues or thin association reserves.
• Use: significant commercial space, or hotel-style operations.

Some of these problems can be cured. An association that finishes a lawsuit, completes a project or brings delinquent dues current can change its status. Others, like heavy investor concentration, are structural and rarely change on a buyer’s timeline.

Many lenders in the network lend on non-warrantable condos, often with lower leverage, a larger down payment or different pricing. A few will not touch certain building types. That spread is the main reason a broker who sees many program sheets can help.

Leverage, Loan Size, and Reserves

Leverage depends on how you will use the condo, not just on the documentation type. Always read an LTV figure alongside its occupancy.

Those are typical ranges from select wholesale-network guidelines. Stronger files earn the top of each range. A non-warrantable condo often sits below it.

Loan sizes generally run from $125,000 to $3,500,000. Investment purchases on bank statement documentation vary widely, so investors who plan to hold the condo as a rental should ask what each lender allows. Investor-focused leverage guidance usually comes from the DSCR side, where qualification runs primarily on property-level rental income covering the payment, subject to lender guidelines.

Term length follows each lender’s program sheet. Extended structures such as 40-year or interest-only terms are DSCR-side offerings, so do not assume a bank statement loan includes them.

Owner-Occupied or Rental? The Paperwork Changes

Occupancy decides the disclosure regime, and the same bank statements can sit under either one.

An owner-occupied condo, meaning a primary residence or second home, is a consumer mortgage. The consumer disclosure rules known as TRID apply, and the lender must reasonably verify your ability to repay.

A bank statement loan on a non-owner-occupied rental, including a short-term rental, is generally business-purpose and exempt from TRID. Under the federal exemption for business-purpose credit, these loans sit outside the consumer rules. The CFPB’s commentary says a lender must decide the primary purpose of each transaction. Credit to acquire a rental with more than two units is treated as business-purpose, while a one- or two-unit rental, which covers most condos, depends on the facts. A compliance trade source makes the same point: the purpose of the loan, not the word investment, drives the answer.

You do not need to settle this yourself. Tell your broker how you will occupy the unit, and the lender sorts the file into the right regime.

24 Months or 12? Which Suits a Condo File

Twenty-four months smooths your income. A seasonal business with a huge summer and a thin winter looks steadier over two years than over one. Lumpy deposits, such as large project payments, also average out.

The tradeoff is that a longer window dilutes recent growth. If your income climbed sharply this year, a 12-month average usually shows more. If it dipped last year and recovered, 24 months may show less than you earn today. Lendmire’s piece 12-Month vs 24-Month Bank Statement Loan: Which Gives You More Income? works through that tradeoff.

Condo buyers have one more reason to think about the choice. A condo file already carries extra documents, so a short, clean statement set reduces what the underwriter must untangle. On the other hand, if your deposits are uneven, the 24-month view may be the one that holds up.

This is a toss-up for many borrowers. Run both averages before you commit.

Statement Prep and Red Flags

Underwriters ask about the same things every time. Answer them before they do.

• Large unexplained deposits. Gather the sale contract, payoff letter or gift letter that explains each one.
• Transfers between your own accounts. Flag them yourself. They are removed from income, so the sooner you show them, the cleaner the average.
• Commingled accounts. A business account full of personal spending, or the reverse, makes the expense factor harder to defend.
• Missing pages or months. Download complete statements, not screenshots.
• Overdrafts and returned items. Occasional ones can be explained. A pattern raises questions about cash flow.
• Ownership mismatch. The account holder must match your stated business ownership.

If you run a business, ask your accountant whether a prepared expense ratio is worth supporting. It can help, but the underwriter will compare it to what the statements actually show.

Condotels and Hotel-Adjacent Buildings

A condotel is different from an ordinary non-warrantable condo. Hotel-style operations can make a building ineligible with some lenders and lower the leverage with others. Some programs also want documented rental income.

Short-term rental rules can vary by city, county, HOA, and property type, so investors should confirm local rules before relying on projected rental income. If you are buying the unit purely to rent it, a DSCR loan may fit better, because it qualifies primarily on the property’s rental income covering the payment, subject to lender guidelines. Even then, ask the association for HOA dues early, since they raise the payment in both tests.

Screen the Building Before You Make an Offer

Do this homework first. It costs little and prevents a failed file.

Pass the answers to your broker before you write the offer. Warrantability drives the program, the leverage and the pricing, so it is better known than discovered.

When Your Income Passes and the Building Fails

Picture a self-employed buyer whose 24-month deposits average out to comfortable income. The appraisal comes back fine. Then the association’s questionnaire reveals active litigation.

The income review is untouched. The project review changes the picture. The buyer has three realistic paths: move to a lender that accepts non-warrantable condos, often with lower leverage; accept different pricing; or wait if the problem is the kind an association can cure. Walking away from this building is also a legitimate outcome.

The lesson is simple. The statements do not carry the building.

Alternatives If You or the Building Don’t Fit

The choice often comes down to which is stronger: your deposits or the condo’s rent. Tax treatment varies by how funds are used and how the property is held, so consult a qualified professional before relying on any deduction.

Next Step

Owner-occupied bank statement files are available in the 16 states where Lendmire’s consumer mortgage licensing applies. You can reach Lendmire at 828-256-2183. The calculator on this site gives an editable, illustrative estimate only.

About Lendmire

A non-QM mortgage broker (NMLS# 2371349), Lendmire arranges DSCR financing for real estate investors in 41 markets — 40 states plus Washington, D.C. Because deals are underwritten primarily on property cash flow rather than personal income documentation, the structure suits self-employed buyers and entity-owned portfolios. Lendmire places loans through wholesale investor lenders; it is not a direct lender. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.

References

1. eCFR – 12 CFR 1026.3, exempt transactions

2. CFPB – Regulation Z, section 1026.3 commentary

3. Compliance Alliance – Regulation Z and Investment Properties