You already have a stack of financed 1–4 unit rentals. The next house pays. Rent covers the note, taxes, insurance, and a vacancy line you actually believe. Then the bank or credit union counts your financed doors and the file dies — not because the deal is weak, because you are past their box. That is this page — not another glossary, and not a second explainer of what a DSCR loan is.
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, underwritten on the asset and the deal. The desk floor is $100k. No owner-occupied. Start on the Funded Funding homepage if you need the product list first, or read what the desk is.
What the 10-property cap actually is
In conventional / agency investor talk, it is the financed-property count limit commonly discussed as about ten financed 1–4 unit properties under Fannie/Freddie-style guidelines. It is industry practice and a GSE-style guideline — not legal advice, and not every shop reads the count the same way.
Two words matter: financed and count. The guideline is not “you may own ten houses.” It is a box around how many financed 1–4s they will underwrite on you as a person. Free-and-clear doors, commercial footprints, and how a shop counts a refinance versus a purchase can all move the number. Some overlays are tighter. Some portfolio banks will go further on a relationship. None of that is a promise. If your loan officer said you are at the cap, treat that as their box for this file.
This is not a tax rule and not a moral score. It is a consumer-mortgage inventory limit built for people who buy houses, not people who run a rental business. The broader map of bank nos — DTI, personal-name closes, missing returns — is on when the bank says no on a rental. This page is the count itself.
Why a strong 11th deal still dies
Because the bank is counting financed doors on you, not asking whether this house pays. A cash-flowing 11th rental can still die on the property-count box, even when rent covers the new payment on your spreadsheet.
The kill shots we see on investor files look like this:
- The deal is fine. The inventory is full. You are not asking them to bless a bad rental. You are asking a conventional box to add one more financed 1–4 after they have already used their count.
- They count notes, not cash flow. Each financed door is a liability on a person. Whether those houses pay is a second conversation — and often a thinner one.
- DTI is the roommate, not the replacement. Even before the count fills up, personal debt-to-income can kill a rental that cash-flows. After the cap, you can have room in DTI and still have nowhere to put the 11th note. The ratio page is how DTI kills a cash-flowing rental. Do not mix the two walls.
- Personal name is part of the box. Conventional investor files are still underwriting you. The portfolio may sit in LLCs. The count still lands on the person who signed.
- The 11th door has a clock. Shopping three more banks for a different overlay is how files miss contracts.
None of that means you should stop buying. It means you asked a consumer inventory rule to fund the next unit of a business.
Two boxes: count + DTI vs the property
A bank rental / conventional investment-property loan asks two personal questions at once: can you carry another payment (DTI), and may you have another financed 1–4 (the count). Private money on a rental — the DSCR-style file — asks whether the property can (monthly rent ÷ monthly PITIA). The formula stays on what a DSCR loan is. The side-by-side stays on DSCR vs a bank rental loan. This page will not rewrite those.
- Who is the borrower? Bank rental: typically you, personally. This desk: the LLC (or other business entity). That is why investors form the entity before they ask for the money.
- What gets qualified? Bank: your income, your DTI, and your financed-property count. DSCR-style: rent vs payment (the ratio).
- What happens when you already have a stack of notes? Bank: more financed 1–4s usually mean a worse personal DTI and a count that can close the door. Cash-flow path: each asset is its own coverage story. Portfolio overlays still exist. They are not the same as a GSE-style property-count wall.
- Owner-occupy? If you will live there, stop. Wrong broker. Wrong license world.
We are not going to pretend banks are useless. If you have clean personal income, room in your DTI, and you are still inside their financed-property limit, a bank loan can be the cheaper long-term hold. That is their path, not ours. If the count already killed the file, do not shop us as a cheaper bank. Shop us as the other door. A property-count no does not guarantee a private-money yes. The rent still has to cover the payment. We will not invent a rate, a credit-score cutoff, a leverage number, or a testimonial on this page.
What investors do after the cap
In practical terms, the next move is not “try a friendlier conventional overlay until someone blinks.” Sometimes that works once. It is not a portfolio plan. After the financed-property wall, investors who keep buying usually change the question from “can I carry this note on my personal return” to “can this asset carry its own note on a business-purpose loan.”
That is why DSCR-style rental files, private money, and business-purpose paths exist after the cap. They are a different underwriting object: the property’s rent versus the payment, closed in an entity, for a hold you will not live in. If you need the formula, use the DSCR explainer. If you need the bank contrast, use DSCR vs a bank rental loan.
- Stop treating the 11th door like a consumer mortgage. You are adding a unit to a business. The file should look like one.
- Put title and the loan where the business lives. Entity close is not decoration. It is how these programs are built.
- Underwrite the house you are buying, not the story of your last ten. Prior notes can still matter as a portfolio overlay. They are not supposed to be a hard “you already used your ten.”
- Keep the rent honest. The cash-flow path still needs a payment the property can cover. A count denial does not license a fictional lease.
Some investors pause and wait for a refinance, a payoff, or a sale to open a conventional slot. That is a strategy if the cheaper long-term hold is worth the wait and the 11th door will still be there. Many 11th doors will not wait. Private money is the other door, not a moral upgrade, and not a promise that every file funds.
Entity close, $100k floor, and a scaling mindset
Yes. The loan is business-purpose and closes in an LLC or another business entity — not as a consumer buying a primary residence. The loan is to the entity and the asset, not a W-2 mortgage. If the entity is not ready, that is a sequencing problem, not a property-count problem. Fix the entity first; the LLC funding note is the place for that.
The desk floor is $100k. Files under that are not this desk. Say the actual fund amount on the application. This desk reads 1–4 unit investor files differently from 5+ unit and commercial files. A house, duplex, triplex, or fourplex is one kind of file. Five or more units, apartments, parks, and commercial are another. The conventional 10-property conversation is mostly a 1–4 financed-count problem. A 5+ or commercial file was never living in that same consumer box. Put the true unit count on the application.
Scaling past a conventional count is less about collecting more personal approvals and more about running the next file as a business file. The portfolio grows one asset that can stand on its own rent — not one more liability parked on a personal ratio that was already tired.
When the bank no is about the box, not the deal
Listen to the reason they gave. If they said DTI, that is the ratio page. If they said they need two years of returns or a personal-name close, that is the bank-no post. If they said you are past conventional financed-property limits — the 10-property cap — you are on this page. Do not spend a month rewriting a personal file that their inventory rule will not take.
Stay on the bank path when you have documented personal income they will count, the ratio clears without fiction, they will close in the name you actually need, you are inside their financed-property limit, and the close can happen on their calendar. If the count is already a no, shopping for a different conventional overlay is optional homework — not a plan for door twelve.
It means the conventional / agency path is closed or expensive. It does not mean the property cannot support a business-purpose loan. It also does not guarantee a private-money yes. The rent still has to cover the payment. You can be a good operator with a good house and still be the wrong borrower for that product. Those two facts can be true at the same time.
What this desk is — and is not
Funded Funding is a national private-money brokerage. We are not a bank. We are not an NMLS-licensed consumer mortgage lender. This is a national desk, not a Phoenix-only shop. The public phone is (520) 552-7065 — an Arizona number. We do not publish an office address. Terms vary by lender, property, and borrower entity. Not available in every state.
The desk floor is $100k. Files under that are not this desk. Borrowers close in an LLC or another business entity. We do not stretch a rental file into an owner-occupied mortgage we are not licensed to do. The product list on the homepage — Fix & Flip, DSCR, bridge, ground-up, GAP — is the menu. A count-killed hold is usually a DSCR-style rental file. A count-killed purchase that still needs time, rehab, or a takeout can be a bridge into that takeout. Do not force the label before the file is read.
How to put the file here
- Confirm it is investor property. If you will occupy it, this site is not your lender.
- Entity ready to close. LLC or other business entity that can take title and the loan.
- Deal on paper. Address, purchase or refinance amount, rent (lease or a defensible market rent), unit count, and that a financed-property count — or another conventional box — is what already failed, if a bank already ran it.
- Do not invent the rent. The cash-flow path still needs a payment the property can cover. A property-count denial does not license a fictional lease.
- Apply. Same intake as the rest of Funded Funding: the application. Or call or text (520) 552-7065.
Still unsure whether the file is DSCR, a bridge into a takeout, or still a bank file you should repair? That is what the intake is for. We will tell you which product the deal is, including “this is still a bank file.” The rest of the investor blog is for the adjacent products — not for rewriting this count in five cities.
Frequently asked questions
What is the 10-property cap?
In conventional / agency investor talk, it is the financed-property count limit commonly discussed as about ten financed 1–4 unit properties under Fannie/Freddie-style guidelines. It is industry practice and a GSE-style guideline — not legal advice, and not every shop reads the count the same way.
Why can a strong 11th rental still get a bank no?
Because the bank is counting financed doors on you, not asking whether this house pays. A cash-flowing 11th rental can still die on the property-count box, even when rent covers the new payment on your spreadsheet.
Is Funded Funding a bank?
Funded Funding is a national private-money brokerage. We are not a bank. We are not an NMLS-licensed consumer mortgage lender.
What is the minimum to fund?
The desk floor is $100k. Files under that are not this desk.
Do I close in an LLC?
Yes. The loan is business-purpose and closes in an LLC or another business entity — not as a consumer buying a primary residence.
Does hitting the cap mean the deal is dead?
It means the conventional / agency path is closed or expensive. It does not mean the property cannot support a business-purpose loan. It also does not guarantee a private-money yes. The rent still has to cover the payment.
Ready to get funded?
If a financed-property count already killed an 11th rental that pays — or you already know it will — and you have an LLC and a property that has to stand on its own rent, send the file. Same intake as every other investor product on this site.
No fake funded counts. No stock testimonials. No owner-occupied stretch. No teaser rate that is not your file. No second “what is DSCR” essay. The count that killed the bank file is the reason this page exists.
Ready to get funded?
Apply on the same intake we use live, or call or text (520) 552-7065.