For investors accustomed to the long, drawn-out underwriting and approval process of a conventional mortgage, applying for a DSCR loan can be refreshingly quick. Whereas conventional mortgage approval can be drawn out for weeks or even months, DSCR loans routinely pass underwriting in 10 days or less. In fact, it’s possible to pass underwriting for a DSCR loan in as little as 24 to 72 hours.
However, that pre-approval isn’t the end of the story. There are still hurdles standing between pre-approval and closing. But DSCR loans remain a favorite tool of real estate investors, in no small part because they can get done quickly, making them a much more credible buyer and empowering them to close quickly. When speed makes the difference between getting the deal and losing the deal, DSCR underwriting speed can be a life-saver.
Munoz Ghezlan Capital not only helps investors find the right DSCR lender for their project — we help those investors put the pieces together for the fastest possible approval. Let’s look at what it takes to achieve fast DSCR loan approval — even DSCR same-day preapproval.
Key Takeaways
- A combination of technology, borrower preparedness, and publicly-accessible data enables certain DSCR lenders to offer same-day pre-approval and full underwriting in as little as 24-72 hours.
- Speed of approval depends on the preparedness of the borrower (documentation, reserves, creditworthiness, appropriateness of the deal) and other factors like the speed to obtain an appraisal.
- Fast approval can come with higher costs, including “convenience fee” interest premiums and the higher cost of borrowing for DSCR loans in general.
- Certain loan structures — Airbnb loans, cash-out refi, portfolio loans, mixed-use, and multifamily loans — can take longer even with the fastest lender.
What Is a DSCR Loan?
A DSCR loan uses the calculated DSCR of the subject property as the “income-verification” component of the loan, as opposed to the buyer’s personal income. For every investor who has wished that a lender would stop asking for paystubs and tax returns, and start considering how much rent the property can generate, DSCR loans are the answer.
“DSCR” is short for “debt-service coverage ratio,” a measurement of how likely the subject property is to generate enough income to cover all expenses, including the proposed mortgage payment.
DSCR is calculated by dividing the annual net operating income (NOI) by the annual debt service on the proposed loan. You can learn the details of DSCR calculation in this article.
If the resulting figure is greater than 1 (say, 1.1, 1.25, etc.), that means the property is expected to generate enough surplus cash flow after expenses to cover the entire mortgage and more. A DSCR of 1 means the property is expected to earn just enough rental income to cover the mortgage, while a DSCR of less than 1 (0.95, 0.70, etc.) means the rental income is expected to fall short of covering the mortgage.
DSCR lenders understandably want to see an estimated DSCR of at least 1, often more than one. Some DSCR lenders will consider a DSCR below 1 if extenuating circumstances apply.
Regardless, DSCR lenders never ask for paystubs, personal tax returns, or proof of employment. Instead, they will want a credible analysis of the expected NOI of the property.
It should be noted, however, that DSCR loans carry higher costs of borrowing than traditional mortgages. They also require higher down payments.
Understanding DSCR Underwriting Speed
With a proper understanding of what DSCR loans are, let’s look at what goes into fast DSCR approval.
Traditional DSCR Underwriting Timelines
The traditional underwriting time of a DSCR loan is 7-21 days — not exactly same-day approval, but still fast compared to traditional mortgages that conform to Fannie Mae guidelines. The typical bottleneck that may delay approval is manual handling of documentation and paperwork.
What “Fast Underwriting” Means In 2025
Numerous technical developments have disrupted the industry, leading to the potential for even faster underwriting. Examples of this tech include:
- Automated income modeling
- Instant asset verification
- Risk-scoring technology
Lenders that implement this tech can offer fast approval, even DSCR same-day approval.
The 6 Primary Factors That Control DSCR Underwriting Speed
Understanding these historical limitations, the following six factors make fast DSCR loan approval possible:
- Documentation Readiness of the Borrower: If the borrower has all documentation in order and ready to hand over to the lender at the time of approval, this can streamline the process considerably.
- Lender Technology Stack: The more automation technology the lender has implemented in its underwriting process, the faster approvals can come back.
- Property Type and Complexity: If the property is relatively simple in its use case with many rent comps, it can be easier to forecast its rent. For unique properties with unusual use cases, underwriting can drag out as the lender tries to arrive at a DSCR they are confident in.
- DSCR Ratio: Higher DSCR can lead to faster approvals. If the DSCR is lower, especially if it is below 1, the borrower may need to expect more underwriting time for the added scrutiny.
- Title Insurance and Conditions: If the title is clean, approval can happen without a hitch. If the title has clouds to clear or if the insurer gets delayed in issuing the title policy, this can create a speed bump in the approval process.
- Experience of the Borrower and the Broker: Experienced borrowers and brokers know how to pair deals with lenders who will move quickly on the kind and character of the deal in question.
What Makes 24–72 Hour DSCR Approval Possible?
Many conditions can speed up (or slow down) DSCR loan approval — some of them relating to technological advancements, some of them conditions that have always existed and will always exist. Here’s what makes 24-74 hour DSCR approval possible:
Automations Lenders Use
Lenders may use modern software solutions to automate the underwriting process, including:
- API-Driven Bank Verification. Direct access to the back end of your bank website can help the lender automatically verify that you have the funds to close and emergency cash reserves required by lender policies.
- Automated Valuation Models (AVM). Rather than relying on complex manual reviews and calculations, AVMs enable lenders to type in the property location and get a data-driven estimate of the property’s value.
- Automated DSCR Analysis Tools. As with AVMs, automated analysis can quickly make DSCR calculations with the input of just a few data points.
If you want fast DSCR loan approval, look for a lender that implements as many of these automations solutions as possible. Munoz Ghezlan Capital keeps track of which DSCR lenders are the most tech-forward in their underwriting.
Streamlined Lender Guidelines
Non-tech aspects of the lender’s underwriting process can also make a big difference in how fast a loan can get approved. Low-tech guidelines on the part of the lender could include:
- Standardized Credit Boxes. If a lender has clear policies for how to handle each credit score tier, they can make fast decisions with minimal min-maxing.
- Simplified Experience Requirements. DSCR lenders like to lend to experienced investors. If a lender doesn’t put up too many experience hurdles in front of the investor, they can be much easier to clear and clear quickly.
- Limited Documentation Lists. Some lenders require more documentation than others. Fewer required documents means less document collection and verification, leading to shorter approval horizons.
Investor Behaviors That Reduce Underwriting Friction
While lender selection is important, plenty of factors in fast DSCR loan approval are under control of the borrower. Factors that contribute to fast approval on the part of the borrower include:
- Clean Bank Statements. If the investor’s business bank statements are all in order, with nothing missing and little or no negative-balance days or overdrafts, the lender can check that box quickly.
- Strong Reserves. DSCR lenders require borrowers to maintain cash reserves sufficient to cover several months’ worth of expenses and debt service. If the borrower has more cash reserves than the minimum requirement, this can lead to a speedy approval.
- Clear Property Financials. The cleaner and more convincing the financial statements and projections, the faster the approval. This is especially true of properties with validated history as a rental and real trailing-12 financials to review.
What DSCR Same-Day Preapproval vs Full Underwriting Actually Means
Many lenders will offer a quick same-day preapproval, but that is not the same as full underwriting.
DSCR same-day preapproval, usually enabled by tech automation, is the result of a quick-and-dirty risk profile of the deal. It does not represent final approval for the loan. There is still a lot of work to be done.
Underwriting is a calculated, verified decision-making process based on documentation. Even with the most sophisticated technology on the market, 24-72 hours is the fastest DSCR loan underwriting timeline available.
The Role of the Appraisal in Fast DSCR Loan Approval
Even with the fastest possible underwriting, the appraisal can prove to be a bottleneck. Nearly every mortgage requires a professional third-party appraisal of the property, and DSCR loans are no different.
In particular, DSCR lenders look at Form 1007 of the standard appraisal for single-family rentals, the form of the appraisal where the appraiser estimates the market rent for the property. This may not be as big a factor if the borrower intends to use the property as an Airbnb or short-term rental, but that intent alone can result in slower underwriting.
Regardless, the final approval of the loan depends on the appraisal, which means approval depends on the appraiser’s schedule. If the appraisal gets delayed, approval gets delayed. This is a factor largely out of the borrower’s control.
DSCR Same-Day Preapproval: How It Works
Since DSCR same-day approval is a function of a quick risk analysis, it is important to understand what that analysis is based on.
What Information Lenders Can Evaluate Immediately
What information can a lender even access and evaluate on the same day they even learn about the deal? Data points that go into a DSCR same-day approval include:
- The borrower’s FICO score.
- The property address and public data available about the property.
- Rent estimates based on comps and automated data analysis.
- The proposed loan structure.
- Access to the borrower’s business bank records, preferably through API access.
This is all the lender needs to make a fast analysis and decide whether or not the deal merits further attention. However, it is not enough to execute a complete underwriting.
What triggers an instant “YES,” “NO,” or “Needs Review”
Yes:
- Minimum DSCR of >1 or whatever the lender’s minimum policy is set at.
- Light credit approval, usually a credit score of 660-680 or greater.
- Sufficient cash reserves, usually 3-6 months PITIA (principal, interest, taxes, insurance, association fees).
- Requested loan balance within automated limits (LTV vs. FICO score).
- No “speed review” flags (can happen with Airbnb restrictions, rural property, condominiums, mix-use property, etc.)
No:
- DSCR too low (below 1 or other policy limit).
- Borrower FICO score below the hard limit, usually 620-640.
- Borrower cash reserves below minimum.
- Disallowed property type (hotel, motel, non-warrantable condo, etc.)
- Requested loan balance above automated limits (LTV vs. FICO score).
- Title and ownership flags.
- Disallowed use as short-term rental or Airbnb.
Needs Review:
- Borderline DSCR (at or close to the lender’s minimum cutoff).
- Borrower FICO score within a “gray zone” between definite “Yes” and definite “No.”
- Borrower cash reserves in question.
- Unverified or unusual rental income.
- LTV barely within range of the allowed limit for the borrower’s FICO score.
How DSCR same-day preapproval accelerates closing later
While a same-day preapproval may seem incomplete and mostly symbolic, there are tangible benefits to the investor who seeks one. Pre-approval adds to their credibility as a buyer, especially if they can bring their pre-approval to the offer process. It also moves the investor into the “fast lane” for the lender, with extra attention devoted to underwriting due to the increased likelihood of approval.
Exact Documentation Needed for Fast DSCR Loan Approval
If you want to increase your DSCR underwriting speed, it is important to come prepared with a complete brief of documentation. Let’s dig deeper into what you need to get your loan approved in the minimum timeframe possible.
Borrower Documentation Checklist
- Photo ID
- LLC formation and standing documentation
- Purchase contract
- Business bank statements
Property Documentation Checklist
- Lease or rent estimate
- Appraisal readiness statement
- Insurance quote
Special Documentation Requirements
Short-term rentals
- Revenue forecast from a source like AirDNA, Superhost Labs, or Rabbu
- Zoning verification for allowed use
- Permit to operate short-term rental (if necessary in that jurisdiction)
- Proof of compliance with occupancy, tax, and registration rules
- HOA letters and bylaws verifying the allowance of use as a short-term rental
- Management and cleaning contract (if available)
- Hazard insurance quote covering the use of a short-term rental
Mixed-use properties
- Zoning documentation
- Rent roll and income breakdown
- Verification of property layout
- Environmental and safety reports
Multi-unit deals
- Trailing 12 months of income statements
- Current rent roll
- Copies of all extant leases
- Expense breakdown
- Capital expenditure schedule
The Step-by-Step DSCR 24–72 Hour Underwriting Process
Step 1: Prequalification call
The lender will request the property address, permission to access the borrower’s credit and business bank accounts, and the desired loan balance.
Step 2: DSCR same-day preapproval
The lender will use automated tools to process immediately-available to attempt a same-day approval. If the deal passes the quick automated assessment, the loan can move on to full underwriting.
Step 3: Document submission
Borrower submits the purchase contract, bank account statements, property financials, zoning and environmental reports, insurance quotes, and any other documentation required for the subject property (listed above).
Step 4: Underwriter review (24–48 hours)
The underwriter reviews all documents to verify their legitimacy and uses them to create a comprehensive estimate of the property’s DSCR and the borrower’s qualifications.
Step 5: Conditional approval
The lender approves the loan, conditional on the property passing appraisal, other inspections, and final review.
Step 6: Clear-to-close timeline
Final verification of appraisal, borrower conditions, and title condition, clearing the way for a smooth closing.
How Investors Can Prepare for Lightning-Fast DSCR Approvals
Although it may seem like approval is entirely in the lender’s hands, borrowers have many factors under their control to streamline the DSCR approval process. Here are the steps an investor can take to make a 24-72 hour approval a real possibility.
The “Pre-Underwriting File” You Should Build
Start pulling together documents that will help make the underwriter’s decision easy. This should include:
- All available analyses of the property, including past and pro-forma income estimates.
- Market rent analysis using comparable rental properties.
- Debt repayment schedule for the proposed loan.
How To Avoid The Most Common Slow-Downs
- Avoid using a bank account with NSF (non-sufficient funds) activity as your cash reserves store.
- Avoid any large unexplained deposits to your reserve-fund bank account.
- Find any missing leases so nothing is left out.
Why Seasoned Investors Get Approved Faster
If you have a track record of investing in similar deals, you have an advantage in DSCR underwriting speed. You can easily show comparable results not just of speculative other properties, but actual properties you have owned and managed. They may not be identical investments, but they can show an aptitude for balancing income, expenses, and debt service.
Seasoned investors may also have borrowed from the lender before and enjoy priority treatment, including fast-track underwriting.
DSCR Lender Types Ranked by Underwriting Speed
If DSCR underwriting speed is the priority, it makes sense to prioritize your lender search based on the speed they are capable of delivering. You can often predict how fast underwriting will clear based on the character of the lender.
- FASTEST: Fintech-driven DSCR lenders
- MIDDLE: National private lenders
- SLOWEST: Local banks and credit unions
Munoz Ghezlan Capital keeps track of which DSCR lenders have the fastest underwriting speeds, which are the slowest, and which are in the middle. Note — if time is not of the essence, a slower lender may be less expensive or more appropriate for a specific deal.
DSCR Loan Structures That Close Faster
Just like certain lenders tend to close faster, certain loan structures lend themselves to faster closing speeds.
Purchase Loans
Purchase loans tend to enjoy fast underwriting. The buyer is putting “skin in the game” in the form of down payment funding, so the risk profile of the loan is lower for the lender.
Rate-Term Refinances
Rate-term refinances are loans that replace the existing mortgage, but don’t take any money out of the deal. They simply replace the existing loan with a loan that has interest rates or terms that the borrower prefers. The borrower is putting no extra “skin in the game,” but no money is being taken out of the deal, so this is still a relatively low-risk proposition for the lender.
DSCR Loan Structures That Close Slower
Certain DSCR loan structures also have slower closing times. You may not be able to help which loan structure is available to you, but if closing speed is a factor and you know your loan structure will require extra closing time, it may make sense to choose a lender with a faster built-in underwriting process.
Cash-Out Refinances
In the case of a cash-out refi, the borrower is not only not adding “skin in the game” — he/she is taking skin out of the game, receiving cash from the lender and pocketing it. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this; lenders and investors do it all the time. However, it does represent extra risk for the lender, so the underwriting process tends to be concurrently longer.
Short-Term Rental (Airbnb) DSCR Loans
Unable to rely on outside opinions like Form 1007 of the appraisal (which doesn’t account for differential potential of short-term rentals), underwriters will need to rely on other data sources to verify the income potential of a proposed short-term rental or Airbnb, drawing out the process.
Portfolio DSCR Loans
Because there are multiple properties to consider, underwriting of portfolio DSCR loans naturally takes longer. Unless the lender is able to deploy a team of underwriters to attack the different properties simultaneously, expect the process to be proportionally longer.
Why Your DSCR File Gets Delayed (Even With a “Fast” Lender)
Choosing a “fast” lender isn’t a guarantee of a fast process. A variety of factors could drag out the process, including:
- Low DSCR ratio may require manual exceptions.
- Lack of rent comps in rural areas.
- Property condition issues.
- Missing insurance binder.
- LLC ownership problems.
- Title issues.
- Unseasoned funds.
If you need to move quickly to close, try to eliminate as many of these factors in advance of your application.
Speed vs Cost: Do Fast DSCR Loans Carry Higher Rates?
It’s worth noting that time is money, and gaining time often involves spending more money. Does this hold true with DSCR loans?
The short answer is yes. Munoz Ghezlan Capital has observed that the fastest DSCR lenders tend to offer loans with interest rates an average of 0.25-0.75% higher compared to those with slower underwriting practices. Consider this a “convenience premium” for choosing a lender who can get the deal done more quickly.
Additionally, certain DSCR lenders may offer waivers of requirements like:
- No DSCR minimum
- No reserve requirement
- No landlord history required
- Appraisal waivers
If you request any of these waivers, this could add an extra 0.25%-0.50% to the final interest rate.
Keep in mind, too, that DSCR loans have an inherently higher cost of borrowing than traditional mortgages, often 1-2% higher in interest rates with 1-2 more closing points.
In short, if the cost of borrowing is a concern and you aren’t in a time crunch, you can almost always save money and enjoy higher cash flow by going with a DSCR lender who does not offer lightning-fast DSCR loan approval. You can save even more money if you can clear the borrowing threshold (and endure the wait time) for a traditional mortgage loan.
However, if you have to close in a matter of days or lose the deal, it may be worth paying that “convenience premium” — provided that the deal numbers still work with the higher interest rate.
That being said, you can still get competitive rates from fast DSCR lenders if you present them with an attractive opportunity. For example:
- Strong DSCR
- Excellent credit profile
- Rate-term refinance
- LTV of 70% or lower
- Easy appraised market rent (i.e. not intended as an an Airbnb)
DSCR lenders love these kinds of “easy” deals and will work hard
How to Choose a DSCR Lender That Can Actually Move in 24–72 Hours
Nearly every lender will advertise “fast” or “prompt” underwriting, but not all of them can deliver to 2025/2026 expectations. If your goal is DSCR underwriting speed, here’s how to tell if a lender can actually make good on a promise of 24-72 hour approval:
Questions to ask upfront
- “What is your average underwriting time?”
- “Do you offer same-day preapproval?”
- “Are your underwriters in-house or outsourced?”
Red flags that slow down approvals
- No dedicated point of contact
- No automated documentation tools
- Brokers without direct lender access
How to verify reputation
- Reviews
- Investor communities
- Case studies
The Future of DSCR Underwriting Speed
As the world moves faster, Munoz Ghezlan Capital expects to see faster and faster underwriting of DSCR loans and all other loans. Factors affecting the future of fast DSCR loan approval include:
- AI-Driven Underwriting. As with all industries, AI has the potential to speed up underwriting considerably by processing large datasets in a matter of seconds, including property comps, market trends, and scenario calculations.
- Automated Appraisal Systems. As digital property databases improve, the industry may evolve beyond the need for an in-person appraisal, eliminating the roadblock of an appraiser making the drive out to the site visit.
- Portfolio-Level Instant Approvals. Advanced data-processing has the potential to make underwriting of entire portfolios as simple as a few keystrokes.
- Real-Time Risk Scoring. Rather than relying on backdated data for risk-assessments, availability of real-time data has the potential to drastically increase lender confidence in their underwriting accuracy, leading to speedy approvals.
- Industry Trends Pushing Speed As A Competitive Necessity. With a consumer public demanding “faster, faster, faster” all the time, speed will be a competitive advantage in every industry. Investing lending is no exception. To maintain their competitive advantage, tech-forward DSCR lenders will race to adopt technologies not even dreamed of yet to shave days or hours off their underwriting process.
Bottom Line
Real estate investors don’t have to rely on the slow underwriting speeds of traditional lenders. The DSCR underwriting process is inherently faster, with a traditional time horizon as little as 7-10 days. Additionally, technological advances have enabled lenders to approve prepared borrowers in as little as 24-72 hours, with same-day preapproval a real possibility.
To access these short approval times, a borrower must:
- Choose a tech-forward lender with a track record of fast approval.
- Have all of their documentation in order.
- Meet the criteria of the lender’s approval policy (credit, reserves, loan balance, LTV, etc.)
- Bring a deal that is easy to approve (i.e. not Airbnb, portfolio, cash-out refi, mixed use, multi-unit, etc.)
- Be able to absorb a potential “convenience cost.”
Munoz Ghezlan Capital specializes in pairing investors with the perfect DSCR lender for their deal. This often involves choosing the fastest-possible lender, while also making allowances for cost-of-borrowing and character of the deal. If you need help finding the perfect balance of speed, cost, and borrower/lender fit, schedule a free strategy session with a Munoz Ghezlan expert today. It’s 2025 (almost 2026) and the new world belongs to the quick and the prudent.
