Illustrative Scenario: A San Diego Nurse Buys Her First Duplex With a DSCR Loan
“Maria” is a composite, hypothetical borrower profile used to illustrate a common DSCR loan scenario — not a real, identified customer.
Maria works full-time as a registered nurse in San Diego. Like many W-2 employees, her personal debt-to-income ratio was already stretched from her primary residence mortgage and a car loan, which made a conventional investment property loan difficult to qualify for on paper.
The property
She identified a duplex in North Park renting for a combined $3,400/month. Her estimated total monthly debt service (principal, interest, taxes, insurance) came out to roughly $2,850 — a DSCR of about 1.19.
Why a DSCR loan fit
Because DSCR underwriting focuses on the property's rent-to-payment ratio rather than her personal DTI, the duplex's cash flow — not her nursing salary or existing mortgage — drove the qualification decision.
In this illustrative scenario, the investor's biggest surprise was that her pay stubs and tax returns weren't part of the file at all — the deal was evaluated on the property.
Illustrative outcome
In this hypothetical example, the loan closed with roughly 25% down, and the DSCR loan let her preserve capacity for a future property purchase without her existing mortgage counting against a personal DTI limit. Actual outcomes, terms, and eligibility vary by borrower and lender.
Considering a similar path? Get matched with a DSCR lender to see what your numbers could look like.