The Lender

STR financing is its own sport, with three common loan types that look similar on a rate sheet and behave completely differently when something goes wrong.

Second home

Roughly 10% down, attractive rate. It also carries a real occupancy representation: conditions about distance from your primary home and personal use.

Investment property

The honest, boring option. 20–25% down, roughly 0.5–0.875% above a primary-residence rate, full income documentation, and no representation you can accidentally violate.

DSCR

The common route for STR buyers, because it ignores your W-2 and your debt-to-income. You pay for that in rate and down payment: typically 20–25% down at one to two points above conventional, sized so income covers debt at a ratio around 1.0–1.25.

Got it? One connection that catches people out.

The lender and your P&L are linked

A DSCR lender is underwriting your NOI. If your projection is built on gross revenue rather than the real waterfall, the loan that gets approved is bigger than the one the property can actually carry — and the lender does not have to care about that. You do.