DSCR loans in Virginia
Buy or refinance a Virginia rental property by qualifying on the property’s income — not your tax returns, W-2s, or personal debt-to-income.
Andes Mortgage originates business-purpose DSCR loans in Virginia — Northern Virginia, Richmond, Hampton Roads, and Roanoke. We do it with standard DSCR for best pricing, no-ratio DSCR, DSCR HELOCs and HELOANs.
- No tax returns · no personal DTI
- From 640 credit scores
- Business purpose · available in 46 states
- Below-1.0 DSCR options
What is a DSCR loan in Virginia?
DSCR stands for debt-service coverage ratio — the property’s monthly rent divided by its full monthly payment (principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and any HOA, together called PITIA).
A ratio of 1.0 means the rent exactly covers the payment; above 1.0 means the property cash-flows on paper. That single number — not your personal income — is what qualifies the loan. For the full mechanics of how DSCR is calculated and underwritten, see our national DSCR loan guide.
Example: a single-family rental in Henrico County, just outside Richmond, rents for $2,344/mo — the metro’s typical single-family asking rent in July 2026 — while the full payment on a $449,950 purchase with 25% down runs about $2,763/mo. That is a 0.85 DSCR: the rent covers 85% of the payment. Most lenders stop reading there. We don’t — 0.85 lands in the reduced-ratio tier, not the reject pile. Now move that identical house a few miles into the City of Richmond, where the 2026 rate is $1.20 per $100 instead of Henrico’s $0.83: nothing changes but the taxing jurisdiction, and the ratio slips to 0.81. That is the Virginia wrinkle we break down below.
What Virginia rents and prices are doing right now
DSCR underwriting starts with the rent, so it’s worth seeing what Virginia rents actually do rather than trusting a listing’s pro forma. The chart below tracks typical asking rent for single-family homes in Richmond, Virginia Beach, Northern Virginia (DC metro), and Roanoke, updated monthly from Zillow’s ZORI series, with the underlying figures in a table beneath it.
Virginia rental market · single-family
Data through Aug 2026
| Metro | Typical asking rent | YoY change | Data through |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richmond | $2,279 | +4.3% | Aug 2026 |
| Virginia Beach | $2,318 | +4.8% | Aug 2026 |
| Northern Virginia | $3,358 | +2.7% | Aug 2026 |
| Roanoke | $1,783 | +3.8% | Aug 2026 |
Data through Aug 2026 · updated monthly · source: Zillow (ZORI)
Rent is only half the ratio. The other half is what you pay for the house — Virginia’s statewide median listing price is $457,000, and it varies widely by metro. Here is the current listing picture statewide:
Virginia housing market
Realtor.com listing data · as of August 2026
Figures are Realtor.com listing data (what sellers are asking) — not sale prices. Source: Realtor.com via FRED (Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis). Updates monthly.
Rent figures are typical asking rent for single-family homes — Source: Zillow (ZORI). Listing figures are Realtor.com median listing prices, not sale prices, published via FRED. Northern Virginia has no standalone metro series in either dataset: Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax and Loudoun are reported inside the Washington, DC–Virginia–Maryland–West Virginia metro, which is why that line is labeled Northern Virginia (DC metro) and covers ground outside Virginia as well.
Who Virginia DSCR loans fit
Andes Mortgage’s DSCR loans in Virginia solve a specific problem investors face: tax returns rarely show the real income a rental produces.
A DSCR loan skips personal income and debt-to-income entirely and focuses on the property’s cash flow instead — which is why it’s the standard tool for building a Virginia rental portfolio.
- Business owners, self-employed, and 1099 contractors
- Self-employed borrowers who write off heavily against income, or haven’t filed yet
- Out-of-state investors buying into Northern Virginia or Richmond who want to close in an LLC
- Investors scaling past the ten-property limit that conventional financing caps you at
- Buyers targeting non-warrantable condos that conventional lenders decline outright
Want to know if DSCR is a good fit, or see what you’d qualify for? Run Mortgage Match — it takes less than 60 seconds and there’s no credit pull. Start Mortgage Match →
What are the requirements for a DSCR loan in Virginia?
Here’s the shape of what we can do on a Virginia DSCR loan. DSCR terms are set by the investor lending shelf, not by the state — these are the same ranges we quote nationwide. Your exact terms depend on the property, your credit, and the loan size.
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Parameter
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Andes Mortgage Virginia DSCR guidelines
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|---|---|
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Minimum credit score
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We work with as low as 640 credit score
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Max LTV — purchase (DSCR ≥ 1.0)
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Up to 85% for credit scores >700
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Max LTV — cash-out refinance
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Up to 75%
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DSCR 0.75–0.99 (reduced-ratio)
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Available — expect roughly a 5–10% LTV reduction vs. standard
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DSCR below 0.75 / no-ratio
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Available — typically to ~60–70% LTV at a higher credit score
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Loan amounts
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~$100K to $2.5M (minimum rises to ~$200K on sub-1.0 DSCR)
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Reserves
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3 months PITIA up to ~$1M; 6 months above ~$1M or on sub-1.0 DSCR
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Mortgage / rental history
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0x30x12 typical (no 30-day lates in 12 mo.)
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Property types
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SFR, PUD, townhome, 2–4 units, condos, and non-warrantable condos
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Rural property
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Allowed with up to 65% LTV
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Occupancy
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Business purpose / investment only
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Guidelines last verified: August 2026. Ranges reflect current wholesale investor guidelines and may change without notice. DSCR loans are business-purpose loans for non-owner-occupied property; this is not a commitment to lend.
DSCR rates in Virginia
Updated interest rates for DSCR loans in Virginia. Explore purchase and cash-out refinancing options with and without rate buydowns. Click build your scenario for a custom quote.
Rates as of Sep 15, 2026
These rates are a few days old — ask us for today's pricing.
Lower rate, more points
6.375%
1.625 points
Fewer points
6.875%
0.250 points
Up to 75% LTV
Lower rate, more points
6.250%
2.000 points
Fewer points
6.990%
0.125 points
Up to 75% LTV
Lower rate, more points
6.875%
1.750 points
Fewer points
7.000%
no points
Up to 75% LTV
Assumptions
- Credit score
- 760+
- Property type
- 1–4 unit investment
- Term
- 30-year fixed
- Prepayment penalty
- 3-year
- DSCR ratio
- 1.10+
- Max LTV
- 75%
Rates and points shown reflect Andes Mortgage's DSCR program ranges, synthesized from current wholesale pricing, and are illustrative, subject to change, and not a commitment to lend. Actual terms depend on a full review of your scenario.
DSCR loans are business-purpose financing priced nationally by program, so the pricing above applies across the states Andes serves — it isn't specific to Virginia.
Virginia DSCR loans under 1.0 ratio
A DSCR under 1.0 means the property doesn’t cover its own payment on paper. Elsewhere that’s an exception — a vacancy, a tax hike, an insurance renewal that ate the margin.
In Virginia it is closer to the middle of the distribution: run the median listing price against the typical asking rent in Northern Virginia, Richmond, Hampton Roads or Roanoke at today’s rates and the likelihood that a DSCR under 1.0 is very real. That is a statement about medians, not about deals — investors buy the property that pencils. In our experience, deals at sub-1.0 tier happen more often than not and we finance these every day.
A DSCR under 1.0 does not get rejected here. It moves to a different tier of the same program at a lower loan-to-value. There is no DSCR floor with Andes Mortgage.
The rent covers the payment. You’re on the main program — best LTVs, widest credit range, lowest pricing.
The rent falls a little short. Still very financeable — expect roughly a 5–10% LTV reduction (a bit more down) in exchange for the lower ratio.
Even a property that doesn’t cash-flow on paper can be financed through a no-ratio structure — typically to ~60–70% LTV with a higher credit score.
If your Virginia rental is losing money on paper and the DSCR is under 1, we place it in a different tier — not deny it. That’s exactly what we price out for you. And in Virginia, using the right jurisdiction’s tax rate up front — the county’s or the independent city’s, not a state average — is often what separates a quote you can close on from one that moves at the closing table. See how below-1.0 DSCR financing works →
Virginia's priciest metro posts its strongest DSCR, and its cheapest posts the weakest
Ask an investor which Virginia metro cash-flows, and the answer comes back fast: not Northern Virginia — too expensive — go downstate where the houses are cheap. On July 2026 numbers that is backwards, and the gap isn’t close.
Below is the same deal in each market: 25% down, a 30-year DSCR loan at an illustrative 7.25%, $150 a month for insurance, and the taxing jurisdiction’s 2026 real-estate rate applied to that metro’s median listing price. Rent is the metro’s typical single-family asking rent. The last column is the purchase price at which that same rent would carry a 1.0 ratio — in other words, how far below the median you have to buy before the property covers itself.
| Metro (taxing jurisdiction, 2026 rate per $100) | Median listing price | Typical asking rent | Full PITIA | DSCR | Price that clears 1.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Virginia (DC metro) — Fairfax County, $1.12 | $579,450 | $3,358 | $3,656 | 0.92 — reduced-ratio | $530,000 (−8%) |
| Richmond — Henrico County, $0.83 | $449,950 | $2,344 | $2,763 | 0.85 — reduced-ratio | $378,000 (−16%) |
| Richmond — City of Richmond, $1.20 | $449,950 | $2,344 | $2,902 | 0.81 — reduced-ratio | $359,000 (−20%) |
| Virginia Beach–Norfolk — City of Virginia Beach, $0.97 | $439,000 | $2,314 | $2,751 | 0.84 — reduced-ratio | $365,000 (−17%) |
| Roanoke — City of Roanoke, $1.22 | $382,225 | $1,768 | $2,495 | 0.71 — no-ratio | $264,000 (−31%) |
Northern Virginia has the strongest ratio, not the weakest. Price is not what sets a DSCR — the relationship between rent and price is, and a ratio doesn’t care about the size of the numbers on either side of it. Rent in the Washington metro that Northern Virginia sits inside scales with its prices better than rent does anywhere else in the state. The metro needs an 8% discount to the median to carry itself; Roanoke, the cheapest door in Virginia, needs 31%. Cheap houses are not the same thing as cash flow, and in Virginia the two run in opposite directions.
The demand story is real, but it is not an escalator. Northern Virginia’s tenant base is federal agencies, defense contracting, and Loudoun County’s data-center corridor, which the county’s economic development office puts at roughly 9 million square feet. Hampton Roads runs the same way through Naval Station Norfolk and the Newport News shipyards. That work is tied to a physical site and often to a security clearance, which pins housing demand to specific ZIP codes in a way remote-friendly employers do not. It is still not static: federal government employment in Virginia fell from 189,800 in July 2025 to 170,700 in July 2026 — about 19,100 jobs, or 10.1% (Bureau of Labor Statistics, not seasonally adjusted).
Typical asking rents in the Washington metro still rose 2.69% over those same twelve months; they just rose slower than every other Virginia metro. Underwrite the ratio the property produces, not the reputation of the county it sits in.
Virginia’s tax line is unusually easy to model — and unusually easy to get wrong. Virginia requires real estate to be assessed at 100% of fair market value (Virginia Code § 58.1-3201), so unlike states with fractional assessment ratios there is no gap between the published rate and the rate you actually pay.
What moves is the jurisdiction.
Virginia’s independent cities levy separately from any surrounding county, so the boundary matters more than the mileage: in the Richmond metro, Henrico County charges $0.83 per $100 for 2026 and the City of Richmond charges $1.20 — 45% more on the same house, which is $139 a month on the example above and the difference between a 0.85 and a 0.81. Northern Virginia splits the same way, Loudoun County at $0.805 against Fairfax County’s $1.12 base rate.
Read the table as an illustration, not a forecast. It pairs a median listing price across all home types with single-family asking rent, at one illustrative interest rate and one insurance figure — real deals move on all four, and coastal Hampton Roads in particular carries higher wind and flood premiums than the $150 a month used here.
What it is good for is the shape of the state: where a metro’s rent sits relative to its price, and how far a purchase has to come off the median before the rent carries the payment.
Where Andes comes in
Most lenders answer a 0.92 the same way they answer a 0.71: decline. Our DSCR loans in Virginia do not carry a floor.
A ratio between 0.75 and 0.99 moves to the reduced-ratio tier with a modest LTV reduction; below 0.75 a no-ratio structure qualifies you on down payment and credit instead of cash flow. Every row in the table above lands in one of those two tiers at the median — which is why, in Virginia, the lender’s floor rather than the property is usually what decides whether the deal happens. We also quote at the actual county or independent-city rate for that parcel rather than a state average, so the ratio you are shown is the one you carry to closing.
This is general education on Virginia property taxes, not tax or legal advice. Rates are set annually by each county and independent city; the 2026 figures above are base countywide or citywide levies and exclude special service, stormwater, and transportation district add-ons, which apply in parts of Fairfax County, Virginia Beach, and elsewhere. Confirm the rate for the specific parcel with the local commissioner of the revenue or assessor before you underwrite. Run your own numbers in the DSCR calculator below.
Virginia markets allow different strategies for investors
Virginia isn’t one rental market — it’s four, and they do not behave alike. The strategy you’re running should drive the metro you buy in and the tier you qualify under. These are the markets investors deploy Virginia DSCR loans in most.
DSCR loans in Richmond — Virginia's most balanced investor market
- Richmond is the state capital and Virginia’s most diversified investor market — state government, finance and insurance, and a healthcare and university base that doesn’t move with one employer.
- The metro that most rewards getting the jurisdiction right: Henrico County charges $0.83 per $100 for 2026, Chesterfield $0.89, and the City of Richmond $1.20 — on the same $449,950 house that spread is worth $139 a month, and it moves the ratio from 0.85 to 0.81.
- Typical single-family asking rents ran about $2,344 in July 2026, up roughly 4.1% year over year (Zillow ZORI) — among the fastest rent growth in the state.
Northern Virginia (DC metro) — the federal and data-center corridor
- Arlington, Alexandria, Fairfax and Loudoun — a tenant base of federal agencies, defense contractors, and Loudoun County’s data-center corridor, work that is tied to a site and often to a clearance.
- The strongest median DSCR of Virginia’s four investor metros at 0.92, not the weakest — high prices come with the rents to match. It needs about an 8% discount to the median to carry itself, the smallest gap in the state.
- Underwrite it with the jobs data in front of you: federal employment in Virginia fell 10.1% in the year to July 2026, and asking rents in the Washington metro rose 2.69% — real growth, but the slowest of the four Virginia metros.
Hampton Roads & Roanoke — the Navy coast and the value end
- Hampton Roads — Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Newport News — is anchored by Naval Station Norfolk and the Newport News shipyards, and led the state on rent growth at about +4.2% year over year, with typical single-family asking rents near $2,314 in July 2026.
- Roanoke is the lowest entry price in the state at a $382,225 median listing price — and, on those same July 2026 figures, the thinnest ratio of the four at 0.71. It is a capital-per-door market, not a cash-flow-on-the-median market.
- Both carry local cost lines worth pricing before you underwrite: coastal wind and flood insurance in Hampton Roads, and the City of Roanoke’s $1.22 per $100 against Roanoke County’s $1.03.
What makes Virginia work for investors
Assessed at 100% of market value
Virginia requires real estate to be assessed at 100% of fair market value (Virginia Code § 58.1-3201), so the published rate is the rate you pay — there is no assessment ratio to model and no reappraisal cycle quietly resetting your basis. Get the jurisdiction right and the “T” in PITIA is the one input on a Virginia DSCR you can pin down exactly.
Four separate demand engines, not one
Federal agencies and defense contracting in the north, Naval Station Norfolk and the Newport News shipyards in Hampton Roads, state government and finance in Richmond, healthcare and rail in Roanoke — plus Loudoun County’s data-center corridor, about 9 million square feet by the county’s own count, which is private capital rather than federal payroll. Four demand drivers, not one, so a statewide portfolio is not a single bet.
Asking rents rising in all four metros
Typical single-family asking rents rose year over year in all four metros through July 2026 — Virginia Beach led at about +4.2%, with Richmond near +4.1%, Roanoke +3.7%, and the Washington metro that Northern Virginia sits inside +2.7% (Zillow ZORI). Rising rents lift the numerator of your DSCR; the live chart above tracks each metro month by month.
Four metros, one set of guidelines
Northern Virginia’s federal and data-center base, Richmond’s diversified capital-city economy, Hampton Roads’ Navy and shipbuilding anchor, and Roanoke’s low entry price sit under one set of business-purpose guidelines — and, because we don’t hold a DSCR floor, under one set of options when the ratio comes in short.
Property types we finance
Single-family & PUD
The core of most Virginia DSCR portfolios — detached single-family and planned-unit developments across the Richmond suburbs, Hampton Roads, and the outer Northern Virginia counties.
2–4 units & townhomes
Small multifamily and townhomes for stronger blended cash flow — common in Richmond’s Fan and Church Hill, in Norfolk and Portsmouth, and in Roanoke’s older urban neighborhoods.
Condos & non-warrantable
Warrantable and non-warrantable condos both financeable — which matters in Arlington, Alexandria, and the Virginia Beach oceanfront, where a large share of the rentable stock is condo.
Multifamily 5-9 units
Small-scale 5–9 unit multifamily can close under our commercial DSCR guidelines.
Note: our Virginia DSCR loan allows rural properties too, but capped at 65% LTV — worth knowing in the Shenandoah Valley, Southside, and Southwest Virginia. Not sure a specific address qualifies? Run Mortgage Match and we’ll confirm before you’re under contract.
Financing short-term & vacation rentals in Virginia
Virginia’s short-term-rental demand is seasonal and regional — the Virginia Beach oceanfront and the Eastern Shore in summer, the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah Valley across two seasons, and year-round leisure and event travel around Charlottesville and Williamsburg. A DSCR loan is the standard way investors finance these: it’s business-purpose and qualifies on the property’s rental income, so an STR held in an LLC is a natural fit.
The Virginia STR markets
- The Virginia Beach oceanfront & the Eastern Shore — established summer vacation-rental demand, with Chincoteague and the barrier islands running their own seasons.
- The Blue Ridge & Shenandoah Valley — mountain and wine-country stays across spring and fall, plus the Charlottesville university and event calendar.
- Williamsburg & the Historic Triangle — leisure travel that runs closer to year-round than the coast or the mountains do.
How we finance a Virginia short-term rental
- Stricter than long-term — expect a higher minimum DSCR (around 1.15), a higher FICO, and an LTV reduction versus a standard rental. The below-1.0 tiers on this page apply to long-term rentals, not to STR.
- Income from STR data or history — qualifying rent comes from short-term market data or the property’s own 12-month operating history, not a long-term lease.
- Plan for seasonality — qualifying income is annualized, so a Virginia coastal or mountain property has to earn its ratio across the off-season months too. That is why the STR minimum sits above a long-term rental’s rather than below it.
Permitting varies by locality — confirm the exact parcel before you underwrite nightly income. Virginia Code § 15.2-983 lets any locality establish a short-term rental registry and require operators to register annually, with penalties for operating unregistered, and many Virginia localities have done so and layered zoning limits on top.
Run a Virginia property’s numbers in the DSCR calculator below, or see how short-term rental financing works in our Airbnb & STR loan guide.
Virginia DSCR calculator
Enter the property’s rent and payment — and use the real rate for the parcel’s own taxing jurisdiction, the county’s or the independent city’s, not a state average. We’ll tell you the DSCR, which tier you land in, and which constraint is limiting your deal. No email required to see your result.
Frequently asked questions
What is a DSCR loan in Virginia?
A DSCR (debt-service coverage ratio) loan is a business-purpose mortgage for a non-owner-occupied Virginia rental. Instead of your tax returns or personal debt-to-income, it qualifies on the property’s numbers: monthly rent divided by full PITIA. At 1.0 the rent covers the payment; above 1.0 it cash-flows. It’s the standard way to finance and scale a Virginia rental portfolio, and it can close in an LLC.
What are the requirements for a DSCR loan in Virginia?
Typical requirements: a credit score from 640 (the best LTVs, up to 85% on a purchase, are reserved for scores above 700), a qualifying DSCR — with no hard floor, since sub-1.0 deals move to reduced-ratio or no-ratio tiers — 25%+ down on most purchases, 3–6 months of PITIA in reserves, and a non-owner-occupied investment property (single-family, 2–4 units, PUD, townhome, or condo). Loans can be vested in an LLC. DSCR terms are national rather than Virginia-specific; see the program table above for the full ranges.
How much down payment do I need for a Virginia DSCR loan?
On a standard Virginia DSCR purchase with a ratio of 1.0 or higher, plan for about 20–25% down — up to 85% LTV (15% down) is available with a credit score above 700. Cash-out refinances go to 75% LTV. Reduced-ratio and no-ratio deals (DSCR under 1.0) carry lower LTV caps, so expect a bit more down — and in Virginia that is the common case at median prices, so budget for it rather than assuming the headline LTV.
What does a DSCR appraisal cost in Virginia?
For a Virginia rental, the appraisal usually pairs a standard valuation (Form 1004) with a rent schedule (Form 1007 for single-family, or Form 1025 for 2–4 units) so the lender can document market rent. Expect roughly $550–$850 for a single-family 1004 plus 1007, with Northern Virginia typically at the top of that range and a 2–4 unit 1025 higher again; cost varies with property type, size, location, and turn time. The rent schedule is what lets a DSCR lender qualify the deal on the property’s income.
Can I buy a Virginia rental property through an LLC?
Yes. DSCR loans are business-purpose loans and can close in an LLC — how most Virginia investors hold rental property for liability and portfolio reasons. There’s also no limit on the number of DSCR loans you can hold, a key advantage as you scale across Richmond, Hampton Roads, and Northern Virginia. More in our DSCR loan in an LLC guide.
What if my property’s DSCR is below 1.0?
You’re not disqualified — there’s no DSCR floor with Andes. A ratio between 0.75 and 0.99 moves to a reduced-ratio tier with a modest LTV reduction; below 0.75, a no-ratio structure qualifies you on down payment and credit instead of cash flow. This comes up constantly in Virginia: on July 2026 median prices and typical asking rents, all four investor metros price out under 1.0, Roanoke lowest at about 0.71 and Northern Virginia highest at about 0.92. See below-1.0 DSCR financing.
Which Virginia markets work best for DSCR investing?
Richmond is the most balanced — a diversified capital-city economy, about 4.1% asking-rent growth in the year to July 2026, and the widest tax spread to work in your favor (Henrico County $0.83 per $100 against the City of Richmond’s $1.20). Northern Virginia posts the strongest median ratio of the four at roughly 0.92, which surprises most investors. Hampton Roads led the state on rent growth at about 4.2%, anchored by Naval Station Norfolk and the Newport News shipyards. Roanoke has the lowest entry price and the thinnest ratio at about 0.71 — a capital-per-door market rather than a cash-flow-on-the-median one.
Related resources
See if your Virginia deal qualifies
Run Mortgage Match and we’ll tell you which DSCR tier your property lands in and what you’d put down — no credit pull, no obligation. Hablamos español.
Andes Mortgage LLC · NMLS #2187991 · Equal Housing Lender. DSCR loans are business-purpose loans for non-owner-occupied investment property only, offered in 46 states. Andes Mortgage does not offer owner-occupied or consumer-purpose mortgage loans in Virginia. Figures shown are typical ranges from current wholesale lending guidelines as of August 2026 — not a single lender’s terms and not a commitment to lend. Program terms and eligibility vary by lender and are subject to change without notice. Real-estate tax rates are the 2026 base rates published by each county or independent city; payment figures are illustrative.