Florida DSCR Rental Loans

Why DSCR Loans Fit Florida's Investor Market

Florida has long attracted out-of-state and international investors drawn to no state income tax, year-round rental demand, and steady population growth. Many of these buyers don't have conventional W-2 income or U.S. tax returns that fit neatly into a traditional loan file, which is exactly the gap DSCR lending fills. Curlee Capital qualifies the loan on the property's rent relative to its total monthly payment — principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and HOA dues where applicable — rather than the borrower's personal financials.

We allow both LLC and personal vesting, which matters in Florida given how frequently investors here structure holdings for liability protection and estate planning purposes. Terms include 30-year fixed and 5/1 or 7/1 ARM options, with a minimum DSCR of 1.0 and a 660 minimum FICO score.

Tampa, Orlando, and Jacksonville: Landlord Fundamentals

Tampa and its surrounding Hillsborough and Pinellas County submarkets continue to draw investors chasing job growth in healthcare, logistics, and finance, with rental demand supported by steady in-migration. Orlando's rental market is shaped heavily by its tourism-driven economy and a large renter base tied to hospitality and service jobs, which tends to produce consistent occupancy but requires realistic rent comps rather than assuming premium short-term rates. Jacksonville, Florida's largest city by land area, offers some of the state's more affordable entry points and stronger rent-to-price ratios, particularly in northside and westside submarkets, making it a common target for cash-flow-focused DSCR borrowers.

Miami-Dade and Southwest Florida

Miami-Dade's rental market spans everything from luxury condo towers to workforce housing, and DSCR qualification varies enormously by submarket and property type — a condo in a warrantable building with reasonable association dues underwrites very differently than a luxury unit with steep HOA fees that eat into cash flow. Southwest Florida markets like Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and Naples have rebuilt and grown significantly, drawing investors to newer construction and waterfront or near-waterfront rentals, though these areas also carry some of the state's highest exposure to storm risk, which shows up directly in insurance premiums.

Insurance Costs and Wind Mitigation in the DSCR Calculation

Property insurance is often the single biggest variable affecting DSCR qualification on a Florida rental. Premiums have risen substantially statewide over recent years due to hurricane exposure, litigation costs, and reinsurance market pressure, and coastal and Southwest Florida properties in particular can carry insurance costs several times what a comparable inland property pays. A wind mitigation inspection documenting features like a hip roof, impact-rated windows, and reinforced roof-to-wall connections can meaningfully reduce premiums and improve the DSCR outcome, so we encourage borrowers to obtain one before locking in a purchase price or refinance target.

We build current, property-specific insurance estimates into every DSCR calculation rather than relying on statewide averages, since a few hundred dollars a month in premium difference can be the gap between a deal that clears 1.0 DSCR and one that doesn't.

HOA and Condo Warrantability

A large share of Florida's investment inventory is condos and properties inside HOA communities, and both status and financial health of the association matter to underwriting. Non-warrantable condo situations — high investor concentration, pending litigation, inadequate reserves, or a single entity owning too many units — can affect loan terms, so we review association budgets and status reports early in the process rather than after a purchase contract is already signed. HOA dues also count directly against DSCR, so a property with attractive rent but steep monthly association fees may qualify at a lower LTV than a comparable non-HOA property.

Short-Term Rentals in Florida's Tourist Markets

Florida's tourism-driven metros, from the Kissimmee corridor near Orlando to coastal Southwest Florida, support a substantial short-term rental market, but local licensing and HOA restrictions vary widely by municipality and even by community. We generally underwrite DSCR loans to long-term market rent unless a borrower can document a stable, licensed short-term rental operating history, since nightly rates are more volatile and dependent on local regulation than standard 12-month leases.