What is your percentage for a Down payment on Multifamily (5+Units) in Florida?

What Down Payment Is Required for Multifamily Properties With 5 or More Units?

Rental Home Financing requires a minimum 20% cash down payment for multifamily properties with five or more units. This applies to purchases in Florida and across all 48 contiguous states where we lend. The remaining 80% loan-to-value (LTV) is financed through our portfolio lending programs, with no requirement for personal income verification or debt-to-income ratio calculations.

The 20% down payment requirement is consistent across our multifamily lending programs regardless of unit count. Whether you are acquiring a 6-unit apartment building in Tampa or a 50-unit complex in Jacksonville, the LTV threshold remains the same. What changes with larger properties is the depth of underwriting -- larger assets receive more detailed cash flow analysis, property condition assessments, and market rent comparisons.

What Factors Affect Multifamily Loan Approval Beyond the Down Payment?

Putting 20% down gets you to the table, but loan approval depends on several additional factors that our underwriting team evaluates:

• Debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) -- the property must generate enough rental income to cover the mortgage payment, typically at a minimum .75x ratio
• Occupancy rate -- at least 90% of units should be leased at closing, with vacant units in lease-ready condition
• Property condition -- the building must meet minimum habitability and maintenance standards as confirmed by appraisal
• Market rents -- current leases should reflect or be reasonably close to market rental rates for the area
• Entity structure -- the property must be held in an LLC or corporate entity. Single property DSCR programs may also close in an individual borrower's name

Florida multifamily properties often perform well under our underwriting criteria because of strong rental demand in markets like Miami, Orlando, Tampa, and Jacksonville. High occupancy rates and rising rents in these metros mean many 5+ unit properties comfortably clear our DSCR minimums, making approval straightforward for borrowers who meet the down payment threshold.

Can I Use Equity From Other Properties Toward the Down Payment?

If you already own rental properties with substantial equity, a cash-out refinance on your existing portfolio can generate the capital needed for a new multifamily acquisition. Many of our borrowers use this strategy to scale -- refinancing current holdings to pull out equity, then deploying that capital as the 20% down payment on the next property. We can structure the refinance and the acquisition as separate transactions, or in some cases, roll everything into a single blanket loan covering both the existing portfolio and the new acquisition.

See the full terms and program details for our blanket and multifamily loan programs.