Someone is about to send a property and call it a rental. The property might be one house. It might be a duplex, a triplex, or a fourplex. It might be an apartment building with five units or more. On this desk those are not one file with a different number typed in the unit box. A 1–4 unit residential investment file and a 5+ unit commercial multifamily file are read differently, and they are routed differently. The application is the same door. The package behind the door is not the same package.
This page is the route. It is not a rewrite of why investors need an LLC. The floor on the loan is a separate rule, on why this desk will not fund under $100k. Several separate houses under one note are a portfolio or blanket loan, not a 5+ building. A shop that will only close in your personal name is a different wall, on they will only close in your personal name. If the question is what a DSCR loan is, that note already exists. This page will not restate it.
Funded Funding is a national private-money brokerage. We are not a bank. We are not an NMLS-licensed consumer mortgage lender. The loan is business-purpose, closed in an LLC or another business entity. The desk floor is $100k. No owner-occupied. The property can be in any state we can close. This is a nationwide note, not a city page. Start on the Funded Funding homepage for the product list, or read what the desk is.
The unit count is the sort
The first fact on the file is how many residential units the property actually has. One house is one unit. A duplex is two. A triplex is three. A fourplex is four. That group is the 1–4 unit residential investment file. Five apartment units and up is the 5+ unit commercial multifamily file. The intake asks which footprint you have because a reader cannot start until the count is honest.
The sort is a desk rule about how a file is read. It is not a legal opinion about zoning. If you need that classification, ask your own counsel. This page is not legal advice, and it is not tax advice.
Call the property what it is. A fourplex you describe as a small multifamily is still a 1–4 file here. An eight-unit building you describe as a house with extra doors is still a 5+ file here. Listings and text messages do not move the route. The count does. On the application, residential is the 1–4 box: a house, a duplex, a triplex, or a fourplex. Multi-family is apartments at five units or more. Retail, warehouse, or office is a third choice. That asset is not a house and it is not an apartment rent roll. This page does not walk it. Do not hide it in the 1–4 box or the 5+ box.
What a 1–4 unit file is
A 1–4 unit file is a residential investment property with one, two, three, or four dwelling units. The borrower is an LLC or another business entity. The loan is business-purpose. You will not live in any unit. The property can be vacant, tenant-occupied, or a mix, and the file has to say which. A house you will move into is not this file, even if another unit is rented.
The reader is asking a residential investment question. Is this a purchase or a refinance. Is the exit a sale, a hold, or time while a later loan is still forming. A flip needs a scope. A hold needs rent you can defend, unit by unit. The reader is not asking for a commercial rent roll on a single house, and not asking the file to look like a consumer mortgage.
A duplex, a triplex, and a fourplex stay in this box. Each unit still needs its own line. One lease and silence on the other units is an incomplete 1–4 file, not a reason to move it onto the 5+ route.
If the 1–4 is a renovation and the exit is a sale, say that. The product note for that shape is fix and flip loans through an LLC. A rehab budget belongs with the contract. Do not rename a flip as a rental, or a rental as a flip, to change who reads it. A bank that already said no is context, not the underwrite. When the bank says no on a rental is that distinction. Calling the house commercial does not change the route.
What a 5+ unit file is
A 5+ unit file, on this page, is an apartment building with five or more dwelling units. This desk reads that asset as commercial multifamily. The borrower is still an LLC or another business entity. The loan is still business-purpose. You still will not live in a unit. The floor is still $100k. What changes is the package. The reader needs a building, not a house with a larger number typed on it.
The questions are the building's questions. How many units, and what mix. Which are leased, which are vacant, and at what rent. What it costs to run, from records you have: taxes, insurance, utilities you pay, and repairs you can document. A sentence that the building cash-flows is not a rent roll. A projection is not a rent roll. Label it if you send one.
Five units leaves the 1–4 box. A larger building is the same route, with a longer rent roll. Clearing five is not an approval. If units are down, say which ones and what work you claim will change the rent. The scope can sit beside the rent roll. It cannot replace it. A building mid-work is not a 1–4 flip because the work is messy.
How the file gets routed
You use the same application the rest of the desk uses. The property-type choice is the first route. Residential, 1–4 units, sends the file to the residential investment read. Apartments at 5+ units send the file to the commercial multifamily read. Retail, warehouse, or office sends the file to a commercial read this page does not describe. The choice is how a person knows which stack to open. A blank choice, or a choice that fights the rest of the package, is not a head start.
Routing is a sort. It is not an approval. It is not a rate. It is not a commitment, and it is not a promise that both routes are open on every asset in every state. Terms vary by lender, property, and borrower entity. Not available in every state. A file in the right stack can still be a no after it is read. A file in the wrong stack gets slower, because the reader has to stop and ask what the property actually is.
The address does not pick the route. The desk is national, and the sort is the same in every state we can close. If the choice says 1–4 and the story says eight apartments, or the choice says 5+ and the contract is one house, the file is contradicted. Fix the choice before you ask for a read.
What to send on a 1–4 unit file
The package is documents, not a paragraph that says the deal is simple. Bring these. If one is missing, name it. Do not substitute a promise to send it after someone says yes.
- The true unit count. One, two, three, or four, and the same number on the application and in the story. If a space might not be a legal unit, say you are not sure. Do not pick a count to choose the box.
- The contract or the refinance purpose. Who is buying or refinancing, the price or the payoff, and what the money is for. A message that names a property is not a contract.
- Entity documents. Operating agreement, EIN, good standing, and who can sign. The same spelling on the deed. That package is the LLC note.
- Occupancy. You will not live in any unit. For each unit, leased or vacant. Send the lease, or say the unit is empty. A rent figure you cannot defend is a guess.
- The exit. A sale, a refinance, or a hold. A flip needs a scope. A hold needs the rent you can defend. If the exit is unfinished, say so.
- Title and insurance, as far as you have them. How title will insure a deed into the entity, and a policy that can be bound to that entity. We will not invent a coverage amount. A policy written as if you live there does not match this file.
- The loan amount. The desk floor is $100k. Under that, the route does not matter. Read why this desk will not fund under $100k.
That list is what a reader needs before a 1–4 file is a file. It does not approve the loan. The route does not turn a fourplex into a commercial rent roll.
What to send on a 5+ unit file
A 5+ apartment file needs the building, not a house packet with a larger number. Bring these. If one is missing, name it. A promise to build the roll after someone says the deal looks good is not a roll.
- The true unit count and the unit mix. The count on the application has to match the rent roll. Do not drop a unit to stay under five, and do not add a room to clear five. If a unit is offline, say so on the roll. Do not leave it off.
- The rent roll. One line per unit: the unit, the rent, and leased or vacant. A total with no lines is not a roll. A projection of rents after work is not a roll. If you send both, label them. Do not blend them.
- The expenses you actually have. Taxes, insurance, utilities you pay, and repairs, from statements you can send. If you do not have a record, say what is missing. This page will not publish a ratio a reader must hit.
- The contract or the current debt. Executed paper on a purchase, or a payoff on a refinance. If you do not have it, say so. Title still has to insure a deed into the entity. The roll is not a substitute for title.
- Entity documents. Operating agreement, EIN, good standing, and who can sign. The entity that will take title is the borrower. Forming the LLC after a yes is not a file.
- Occupancy and the exit. You will not live in a unit. Say whether you are holding, renovating and holding, or selling. If work is part of the request, send the scope beside the rent roll, not instead of it.
- The loan amount. The same $100k floor. A 5+ building under the floor is still under the floor. Say the number you need, not a number written so the form will pass.
That list lets the desk read a commercial multifamily file. It is not a promise that the file funds. Terms vary by lender, property, and borrower entity. Not available in every state. Send the contract and the roll, or say which one you do not have. A partial roll is usable when you say it is partial.
Do not relabel the property
Relabeling is how a file gets routed wrong. A fourplex is a 1–4 file. Calling it multifamily, or calling it commercial because the loan closes in an LLC, does not make it a 5+ file. On this desk the 5+ read is apartments at five units or more. Retail, warehouse, and office are their own choice. The entity is not the unit count. That rule is why the borrower is an entity.
Five or more apartment units is a 5+ file. Leaving a vacant unit off the count does not make it a fourplex. Adding a storage room or a porch so the count clears five does not make it a 5+ file. If you are not sure a space is a legal unit, say so and ask your own counsel. This page will not count it for you. If two documents disagree, send both and say which count you are standing on.
An RV park or a pad site is not a 1–4 house and it is not a 5+ apartment building. Do not count pads as units to force a route. A storefront with a residence attached is not automatically a duplex or a 5+ building. Say what is there.
Several houses are not one building
Investors sometimes add up units across addresses. Three houses are not a six-unit building. Four duplexes are not one apartment asset. A portfolio or blanket loan can be a real structure when one property cannot carry a file on its own and the same entity will own every property on the note. It is a different tool. What it changes is portfolio or blanket when one property cannot carry. Read that note before you staple separate houses together and call the stack 5+ multifamily.
The route follows the collateral. One apartment building with five or more units is one 5+ file, with one rent roll. Separate 1–4 properties are 1–4 files, even if the doors add up to more than four. A list of addresses with a total at the bottom is not a building rent roll. Houses in different entities, or one house in a personal name, will not blanket on this desk. If you have one building and also a house, those are two footprints. Say so. Do not average them into one choice on the form.
The other rules do not move with the route
The route does not waive the rest of the desk. The borrower is an LLC or another business entity on a 1–4 file and on a 5+ file. The person who signs has to be allowed to bind the company. One spelling of the name should appear on the operating agreement, good standing, the deed, and the loan. A personal-name close is the wrong product on either route. This desk does not close that way. Read they will only close in your personal name if that is the stall you already hit, and do not bring that vesting here as a temporary step.
The loan is business-purpose on either route. You will not live in the property. Living in one unit of a duplex, or in a unit you have decided is not really occupancy, is still occupancy. If you will live there, stop. This site is the wrong desk. Hiring a manager is not the same as you moving in. The 5+ route is not a place to hide an owner-occupied house, and the 1–4 route is not a place to hide it either.
The floor is $100k on either route. The unit count is not a credit against the loan amount. Why the floor exists is the under-$100k note. A routed file can still fail the entity, occupancy, the floor, the contract, or a missing rent roll. Routing is the start of a read. It is not the read.
When it is a no, or the wrong route
It is the wrong route when the property type does not match the unit count in the contract, the rent roll, or the story under it. It is the wrong route when pads, a storefront, a warehouse, or an office are labeled as apartments or as a house, and when several separate 1–4 addresses are sent as one 5+ building. Send it again as what it is. The desk will not quietly pick a box for you.
It is a no when you will live in the property, when title will land in a personal name, when the request is under the $100k desk floor, or when the entity documents do not exist. It is a no when a 5+ file arrives with no rent roll and a sentence about cash flow, or when a 1–4 file arrives with no contract and a unit count that changes depending on who is asking. A missing document you named is a pause. A missing document you papered over stays a no until the package matches the asset.
It can be read when the true count is on the application, the package matches that count, the borrower is an entity that will take title, you will not occupy any unit, and the loan is at or above the floor. A file that can be read is still not an approval.
What this desk is — and is not
The property can be in any state we can close. We do not publish an office address. This is a national desk, not a city page. The route is the same everywhere we work. Terms vary by lender, property, and borrower entity. Not available in every state. We will not invent a rate, a credit cutoff, a leverage figure, a unit-count exception, or a count of files we have moved from one box to the other.
Business-purpose only. Borrowers close in an entity. If you will live in the property, this site is the wrong desk. We are not a bank, and we are not an NMLS-licensed consumer mortgage lender. We do not give legal advice on whether a space is a legal unit, how a building is zoned, or how the property should be taxed. We do not warehouse the loan. A page about how a file gets routed is not an approval of either route.
How to put the file here
- Count the units you can defend. One to four residential units is the 1–4 choice. Five or more apartments is the 5+ choice. Retail, warehouse, or office is the other choice. A park is not either of the first two. If you are unsure a space counts, say so.
- Confirm you will not occupy any unit. If you will live there, stop, on a house and on a building.
- Entity ready to take the deed. Operating agreement, EIN, good standing, and a signer with authority. If the deed is planned in your personal name, read they will only close in your personal name and do not send that vesting here.
- Match the package to the route. A 1–4 file needs the contract or refinance purpose, unit-by-unit occupancy, and the exit. A 5+ file needs the unit mix, the rent roll, the expenses you can support, and the contract or current debt. Separate houses are not one apartment roll. If that is a blanket, read the portfolio note first. Under $100k, stop.
- Apply. Same intake as the rest of Funded Funding: the application. Apply here if the borrower is an entity, the unit count matches the package, and the loan is at or above the floor.
Related reading
- Want Real Estate Funding? Here's Why You Need an LLC First
- Why This Desk Will Not Fund Under $100k
- Portfolio or Blanket Loan When One Property Cannot Carry the File
- They Will Only Close in Your Personal Name
- Fix and Flip Loans: How to Fund Your Next Renovation Project Through Your LLC
- When the Bank Says No on a Rental
- What to Send So We Can Read the Deal the Same Day
Frequently asked questions
Does a 1–4 unit file get read the same way as a 5+ unit file?
No. On this desk a house, duplex, triplex, or fourplex is a residential investment file. Five or more apartment units is a commercial multifamily file. They use the same application, and they are routed to different reads. Routing is not an approval, a rate, or a commitment.
What should I send on a 1–4 unit file?
The true unit count, the contract or the refinance purpose, the entity documents, and a statement that you will not live in the property. If you are flipping, send the rehab scope and the exit. If you are holding, send the leases or a rent figure you can defend, and say which units are vacant. The loan still has to be at or above the $100k desk floor.
What should I send on a 5+ unit file?
The true unit count and unit mix, a rent roll, and the expenses you actually have for the building. Also send the contract or the current debt, the entity documents, and who can sign. One sentence that says the building cash-flows is not a rent roll. You will not live in a unit. The loan still has to be at or above the $100k desk floor.
Can I label a 5+ building as a 1–4 file, or several houses as one apartment building?
No. A fourplex is a 1–4 file even if you call it multifamily. Five or more units is a 5+ file even if one unit is vacant or you would rather have it read as a house. A portfolio of separate 1–4 properties is not one 5+ building. Put the true count on the application. Relabeling the property does not change the route, and it is not a way to skip documents.
If the file is routed, is it approved?
No. Routing means a person can read the package that matches the asset. It is not an approval, a rate, or a commitment. The borrower still has to be an LLC or another business entity, the loan still has to be business-purpose, and you still will not live in the property. Terms vary by lender, property, and borrower entity. Not available in every state.
What is the minimum to fund, and who closes?
The desk floor is $100k. Files under that are not this desk. Borrowers close in an LLC or another business entity. The loan is business-purpose. If you will live in the property, this site is the wrong desk.
Ready to get funded?
If the unit count matches the property and the LLC will take the deed, send the file that matches the route. Include the operating agreement, the EIN, good standing, and who signs. No fake funded counts. No stock testimonials. No owner-occupied loans.
Ready to get funded?
Apply on the same intake we use live, or call or text (520) 552-7065.