Licensed in Virginia · NMLS #926762
If your tax returns do not show what your business actually earns, a Virginia bank will read that as not enough income. It is not. It is a documentation problem, and there are loan programs built for it.
The short version. I am a mortgage broker licensed in Virginia who works almost entirely with self-employed borrowers and real estate investors. If you write off enough that your adjusted gross income looks small, you can still buy or refinance using bank statements, 1099s, a profit and loss statement, your assets, or the rent a property collects. Call or text me at 704-890-7168.
A conventional lender does not qualify you on revenue. It qualifies you on what is left after your deductions, averaged across two years, with a set of add-backs that changes depending on whether the income lands on a Schedule C, a K-1, or a W-2 you cut yourself, and most borrowers have never been told any of that. So you spend the year doing exactly what a good operator should do, which is legally driving that number down. Then you apply for a mortgage, and the number you worked all year to shrink is the only one the underwriter is allowed to look at.
I see the same three situations over and over in Virginia:
None of these mean you cannot afford the house. They mean the conventional calculation does not describe you, and since that calculation is the only lens a retail bank has, the file dies there regardless of what your business is actually doing. Solvable. It is most of what I do.
This is the single most useful thing to understand about financing in this state, and most borrowers get it wrong.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency sets a baseline conforming loan limit every year, and a higher ceiling for designated high-cost areas. For 2026 the baseline for a one-unit property is $832,750. The high-cost ceiling is $1,249,125, which is 150 percent of the baseline.
The Washington metro counties in Northern Virginia are designated high-cost and carry the ceiling. Most of the rest of Virginia carries the baseline. The practical effect is that the same borrower, buying at the same price, is in a different loan category depending on which side of the state they are on.
| Where you are buying | 2026 one-unit conforming limit | What a $1,100,000 purchase is |
|---|---|---|
| Arlington, Fairfax and the Northern Virginia high-cost counties | $1,249,125 | Still conforming |
| Richmond, Virginia Beach, Charlottesville, Roanoke and most of the state | $832,750 | Jumbo |
Here is why that matters to you and not just to a loan officer. Jumbo underwriting is where self-employed income gets picked apart hardest: bigger reserve requirements, more documentation, and far less flexibility about how business income gets counted. Conforming is the easier room to be in. So a borrower in Arlington who assumes a $1.1M purchase makes them jumbo, and braces for all of that, is negotiating from a position they do not actually occupy, while a borrower in Richmond who assumes the reverse finds out three weeks in, after the appraisal, when the reserve requirement lands.
Check the limit for your county before you decide what kind of loan you are shopping for. The limits are published by the FHFA and they change annually.
A bank has one set of guidelines. If your file does not fit them the answer is no, and the loan officer across the desk usually cannot tell you who would have said yes, because they genuinely do not know.
I am a broker. That means I place loans with wholesale lenders instead of lending my own money, and those wholesale lenders are where almost every bank statement, 1099, profit and loss, asset based and DSCR program actually lives. You cannot apply to most of them. They do not take consumer applications at all. They work through brokers, and that is the entire reason the route exists.
That is worth saying plainly because the internet is full of lists of bank statement lenders that a borrower cannot actually use. If you have searched this and found names like wholesale lending divisions you have never heard of, that is why. The route to those programs is a broker.
The practical difference is that when one lender’s expense factor makes your file look thin, I can move it rather than start over. Different lenders calculate self-employed income differently, and the spread between them is not small.
| If this is your situation | The program to ask about | How income is counted |
|---|---|---|
| Business deductions make your taxable income look small | Bank statement loan | 12 or 24 months of personal or business deposits, with an expense factor applied |
| You are an independent contractor paid on 1099s | 1099 program | The 1099 totals, without the full tax return analysis |
| Strong business cash flow, complicated returns | Profit and loss program | A CPA prepared P&L, often alongside bank statements |
| Significant assets, little documented monthly income | Asset based qualifying | Eligible assets converted to a qualifying income figure |
| Buying a rental, personal income is not the story | DSCR loan | The property’s rent measured against its payment |
| Your returns actually do show enough | Conventional or jumbo | Tax returns with add-backs, usually the cheapest option |
That last row matters more than the others. These programs are tools, not an upgrade, and if your tax returns already support the loan then conventional financing is almost always the cheaper deal and I will say so on the first call rather than the fifth. The job is working out which row you are actually in. Not selling you the complicated one.
Each of these has its own page, because the detail is where the money is: bank statement loans in Virginia and which deposits actually count, 1099 income mortgages and why they usually beat bank statements for consultants, DSCR loans for rentals, and asset based mortgages if your balance sheet looks nothing like your tax return. There is also who actually offers these loans and why you cannot apply directly, and how no income verification mortgages work. For rentals, see DSCR loans for investors.
This is the part nobody explains, and it is usually the difference between a loan that works and one that does not.
A bank statement lender does not count your deposits as income. It totals the qualifying deposits over 12 or 24 months, then applies an expense factor, which is an assumed business expense percentage. What is left is your qualifying income.
That factor is the whole ballgame. Run $600,000 of annual deposits through a lender using a 50 percent expense factor and you qualify on $300,000; run the identical statements through a lender using 20 percent and you qualify on $480,000. Same borrower. Same deposits. A $180,000 swing, decided by nothing except which lender the file landed on.
Where the factor lands usually depends on:
Two things follow. A declined bank statement loan is frequently a lender problem rather than a borrower problem, which means the identical file, with the identical statements, can be approved somewhere else without you changing a thing. And if you are shopping this on your own, asking about the rate before you ask about the expense factor is asking the second question first.
I am licensed across Virginia and the programs above are available statewide. In practice the files group into a few markets:
I work remotely across all of it. My office is in Mooresville, North Carolina, and almost every Virginia file I close runs on phone calls, texts and e-signatures, which for a business owner who does not want to lose half a Tuesday to a branch appointment is usually the point rather than the compromise. If you would rather meet in person, say so. We will work it out.
I am Scott Hastings, a mortgage broker with Arbor Financial Group. I specialise in self-employed borrowers and real estate investors, which in practice means the files other lenders hand back.
I am licensed in 13 states including Virginia. My individual NMLS ID is 926762 and you can verify it on NMLS Consumer Access.
Mortgages by Scott has been accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2015, and I have been originating mortgages for more than twenty years. WalletHub named me one of the best mortgage brokers in Charlotte for 2026.
If you want a straight answer about whether your income works before anyone pulls your credit, send me your situation and I will tell you.
Yes. Bank statement, 1099, profit and loss and asset based programs all qualify you without using your tax returns as the income calculation. They are available on Virginia properties for primary residences, second homes and investment properties. They are not no documentation loans, and the lender still has to establish that you can repay. What changes is which documents prove it.
It depends on the county. The 2026 baseline limit for a one-unit property is $832,750, which applies to most of Virginia including Richmond, Virginia Beach, Charlottesville and Roanoke. The Washington metro counties in Northern Virginia are designated high-cost and carry the ceiling of $1,249,125. Anything above your county’s limit is a jumbo loan, which usually means tighter reserve and documentation requirements.
Conventional guidelines generally look for a two year history, with some allowance for a shorter period where there is documented prior experience in the same line of work. Bank statement and 1099 programs are often more flexible and some will work with twelve months of self-employment. The requirement varies by lender and program, so it is worth asking before you assume you have to wait.
For a property you are buying, a DSCR loan qualifies on the property’s own rent against its payment, and your personal income is not the deciding factor. For a home you already own and are moving out of, the rules changed. Fannie Mae rewrote the departing residence guidance effective for applications dated November 1 2026 or later: a signed lease no longer counts, the lender uses market rent, takes 75 percent, and subtracts the full payment including taxes, insurance and HOA.
No. My office is at 121 N Main St Ste 202, Mooresville, North Carolina, and I am licensed to originate loans in Virginia from there. Nearly all of my Virginia business is handled by phone, text and electronic signature. If having a local office matters to you, that is a fair thing to weigh, and I would rather tell you up front than have it come up later.
Most bank statement programs start somewhere in the low to mid 600s, with better terms as the score rises, and the exact floor depends on the lender, the down payment and the property type. Credit score is only one input. Down payment, reserves after closing and the consistency of your deposits all move the decision. If your score is borderline, it is worth a conversation before you apply anywhere, because a declined application costs you a hard inquiry.
Send me your situation and I will tell you which programs fit and what the file would need. No application, no credit pull, no obligation.
Text Scott: 704-890-7168 Call 704-890-7168Scott Hastings, individual NMLS #926762. Arbor Financial Group, 121 N Main St Ste 202, Mooresville, NC 28115. Phone and text 704-890-7168. Licensed to originate mortgage loans in Virginia.
Equal Housing Opportunity. This page is general information about loan programs and is not a commitment to lend, a loan approval, or an offer of credit. Program availability, qualifying guidelines, credit score minimums, down payment and reserve requirements vary by lender and are subject to change. Nothing here is legal, tax or financial advice. Consult your own tax professional about how business deductions affect your qualifying income.
Loan limit figures are published by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and are current for 2026. Limits are set annually and by county.
