An Extensive Scenario Analysis, Then a Lender Analysis to Place Your Loan
That sentence is how Eric describes the work, and the whole process is those two things in order.
Scope. Investor and business-purpose lending nationwide. Owner-occupied home loans in California.
At a glance
- The first stage costs
- Nothing
- Credit pulled at stage 1
- No
- Stages
- 4
- Lender panel
- 20+
Most lenders
Most lenders run it the other way round: application first, documents next, and an answer at the end — by which point you have paid for an appraisal and assembled a package for a program that may never have fitted.
Here
Here, the analysis comes before the paperwork, because the analysis is the part that decides everything after it.
Before a file moves forward
Stage 1 — Scenario analysis
- What it is
- a conversation about your situation, and a read on which programs are plausible.
- What it costs
- nothing, and it does not touch your credit.
You describe the property, the income picture, what you have to put in, and what you are trying to do. We work through the routes against your file — which programs fit, which do not, and what each would ask of you.
You will be told the uncomfortable parts here rather than later.
- Whether a prepayment period conflicts with your plan to refinance.
- Whether the rent leaves a monthly shortfall you would be funding yourself.
- Whether the property type has a small lender pool.
- Whether a direct lender would actually serve you better than we would — which happens, and we will say so.
At the end of this stage you know which program or programs you are working toward. Nothing has been submitted anywhere.
What to bring
You do not need a document package for this stage. You need the facts.
For an investment property
- The address or the market, and the property type
- Purchase price, or current value and current loan balance
- The rent, or the projected rent if it is not let yet
- Estimated monthly taxes, insurance and HOA dues
- What you have available for down payment and reserves
- Roughly where your credit sits
- Whether you are buying in your own name or an entity
- How long you intend to hold it
For an owner-occupied home loan in California
- Purchase price or current value, and the property type
- How your income is earned — W-2, self-employed, or both
- Roughly where your credit sits
- What you have available for down payment and reserves
- Any credit events, and roughly when they happened
For a construction or mid-construction file
- The land, or the part-built project and how far along it is
- The budget, what has been spent, and what remains
- Permit status
- Who is building it
- How the loan is intended to be paid off at the end
Stage 2 — Lender analysis
- What it is
- matching the file to the lenders whose program actually fits it.
This is the part a direct lender structurally cannot do. A direct lender offers the loans one institution makes. A brokered business places your file across a panel — ours runs to 20+ lenders — and the question becomes which program fits rather than whether you fit the one on offer.
It matters most when the file is not standard:
- Self-employed income
- An investment property
- A ratio below 1.00
- A credit event
- An unusual property type
- A project part-way through construction
Those are the files where two lenders reach opposite answers on identical facts, because they are reading different rulebooks.
If you choose to proceed
Stage 3 — Application and documents
Now the paperwork, and only what the chosen route actually needs.
- A DSCR file does not ask for tax returns.
- A bank statement file does not ask for a P&L.
- A full-documentation file asks for the lot.
Each program page lists exactly what that route requires under what you will need, so you can see the load before you commit to it.
You will be asked for consent before your credit is pulled, and disclosures go out at this stage.
Stage 4 — Appraisal, underwriting and closing
The appraisal
The appraisal is ordered — on an investment property, with a rent schedule attached, because that is the document the ratio is calculated from.
Underwriting
Underwriting reviews the file and issues conditions. Conditions are normal; they are not a decline. Most files clear them by supplying a document or an explanation.
Closing
Then signing, funding and recording.
You hear from us at every stage transition, and whenever a condition needs something from you. If a file goes quiet at the lender's end, you will be told that too, rather than being left to guess.
How long it takes
Every figure below is typical, not promised. Nothing is approved until a lender approves it, and no date goes on your file before we have seen it.
- DSCR and no-ratio DSCR21 to 30 days
- Hard money / bridge15 to 25 days
- Non-QM21 to 30 days
- Bank statement30 days
- Profit & loss30 to 45 days
- Full documentation30 to 45 days
- Investor financing, full-doc route30 to 45 days
- HELOC10 to 30 days
- Mid-construction30 to 45 days
- Ground-up constructionFunded in draws — first funding typically 5 to 7 days from the first draw request
Across all programs, closings typically run
25 to 45 days
What actually moves those numbers
- How fast documents come back
- Appraisal scheduling in the property's market
- Whether the property is tenanted
- Permit timing on a build
- Whether a title issue turns up
Very little of it is the lender being slow.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does the scenario analysis cost anything?
No, and it does not involve a credit pull or an application.
Will you pull my credit at the first conversation?
No. Credit is pulled at the application stage, with your consent, once you have decided which route you are pursuing.
Do I have to hand over financial documents to find out if a program fits?
No. The first conversation runs on the facts of your situation. Documents come when you decide to move forward.
Will you tell me if I should go somewhere else?
Yes. If you are a W-2 borrower with clean documentation buying a standard home, a direct lender is a reasonable option and we will say so. The same applies if your tax returns support the payment — a conventional loan usually costs less than DSCR, and that is worth knowing before you assume otherwise.
Can you tell me what I qualify for before I formally apply?
On the bank statement route, yes. We will run a bank statement analysis before you formally apply. On other routes the scenario analysis gives you a read on which programs fit, which is not the same as an approval and is never presented as one.
Do you fund the loans yourselves?
No. We are a brokered business. Loans are arranged, not made.
Why does a broker have access to programs a bank does not?
Because a bank offers its own products. A broker's panel spans lenders with different rulebooks, including lenders who write Non-QM and business-purpose programs that no retail bank offers at all.
What does "conditions" mean when underwriting comes back?
A list of items the underwriter needs before the file can close — a document, a letter of explanation, an updated statement. It is a normal stage of every loan, not a rejection.
Can I do this from outside California?
For business-purpose investor financing, yes — that set is brokered nationwide with Eric as broker of record. Owner-occupied home loans are California only.
Who will I actually be dealing with?
Eric Figueroa, the principal broker, DRE #01510659 and NMLS #411191.
When can I reach him?
Posted office hours are Monday to Friday, 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM Pacific. In practice he is reachable before and after those hours and sometimes on weekends — a client described exactly that, unprompted, in a review on the Zillow profile.
How do you get paid?
Our broker fee varies case by case.
What if my file is declined?
A decline by one lender is a decline by one rulebook. The file goes back to the lender analysis, and often the answer is a different program rather than a different lender. If no program fits, you will be told that plainly rather than kept in a pipeline.
What happens next
All twenty-two programs, grouped by situation and by product name.
Before the first call
CalculatorsWork out a coverage ratio, a payment, or available equity before the first call.
You are here
How It Works
An extensive scenario analysis, then a lender analysis.
The license record, and how to check it.
Request a Scenario Analysis
Bring the facts listed above. You will get a read on which programs fit before you assemble a single document.
Nothing on this page or website constitutes an offer of credit, a rate quote, or a commitment to lend. All loans are arranged through third-party lenders and are subject to full application, credit approval, income/asset verification, property appraisal, and underwriting. Terms and availability are subject to change without notice. Loankey.io is a licensed real estate broker; loans are arranged, not made. Timelines are typical and are not guaranteed. Investor and business-purpose lending nationwide. Owner-occupied home loans in California.