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Program 03

Rental / DSCR in Boulder

Boulder DSCR loans underwritten to what a rental actually earns.

Hold your rentals with financing that underwrites the asset, not just you. DSCR as low as 0.75, rates from 5.5% interest-only, and 30-year fixed options for single properties or whole portfolios. In Boulder, a rental has to carry a current city license and meet the SmartRegs energy standard before you can legally lease it. Business-purpose only, and rates and structure are set in underwriting.

Rental / DSCR in Boulder, CO from USA Mortgage
0.75
min DSCR
5.5%
rates from
30-yr
fixed avail.
80%
max LTV

Typical figures, subject to underwriting and market conditions. Not a commitment to lend.

How it works

No tax returns or personal income docs in most cases. We qualify on the property's cash flow, so you can scale your portfolio without the paperwork drag of conventional lending.

Who it's for
Buy-and-hold investors
Single rentals and portfolios
Short-term rentals considered
Rate/term and cash-out refi
Typical terms
Loan amount$100K to $3M
Max leverageUp to 80% LTV
DSCRFrom 0.75
CreditFrom 640
Term30-yr fixed / 5-7-10 ARM
RateFrom 5.50% IO*
PrepayFlexible structures
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*Typical terms, subject to underwriting and market conditions.

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Local FAQ

Rental / DSCR in Boulder, answered.

Can I underwrite a Boulder rental to bedroom-by-bedroom income now that the occupancy cap is gone?
Yes, and this changed only recently. Boulder raised its unrelated-occupant limit from three to five in August 2023, the state then preempted familial-relationship occupancy limits statewide effective July 2024, and Boulder City Council repealed its own occupancy limits outright on March 6, 2025. The city still enforces International Property Maintenance Code minimums on any unit, a bedroom of at least 70 square feet and 50 square feet per occupant, so a per-bedroom pro forma has to pencil against those room sizes, not against the old unrelated-persons cap. The University of Colorado Boulder enrolled 38,808 students in fall 2025, roughly a third of the city's population, which is the tenant base this now applies to.

Sources: boulderreportinglab.org, bouldercolorado.gov, connections.cu.edu

Why does Boulder's average rent number make a rental look weaker than it actually is?
Because the citywide figure is dragged down by student condos and apartments, not by houses. As of June 2026, Boulder metro's single-family rent index ran $3,156 a month, up 2.6% year over year, against $2,249 for the blended all-property index, up 1.2%. That is a gross yield of about 5.3% on detached stock versus 3.8% on the blended number. A DSCR file underwritten off the blended index can decline a detached house that actually carries its payment. Run the property's own numbers with the DSCR calculator before assuming the metro average applies.
What does it take to legally hold a long-term rental in the City of Boulder?
A rental license, a private inspection, and a SmartRegs energy certification, none of which transfer with the sale. Every rental unit in the city needs a license under Boulder Revised Code title 10 chapter 3, good for four years, inspected by a privately licensed inspector on the city's list at licensing, at renewal, and again after any ownership transfer. Separately, SmartRegs requires the unit to score 100 energy efficiency points (plus 2 water points) or carry a HERS rating of 120 or less before it can be legally rented, with penalties running $150 to $500 for a first violation and up to $1,000 for a third. Ask the seller for the current license and SmartRegs documentation before you close, because a Boulder license does not carry over to a buyer and neither does SmartRegs compliance history.

Sources: bouldercolorado.gov

Can I use short-term rental income to qualify for a DSCR loan on a Boulder investment property?
Not inside Boulder city limits, unless you plan to live there. Boulder's short-term rental license requires the unit be the owner's principal residence, defined as where the owner resides more than half the year; a tenant subletting short-term is expressly called out as an illegal use of the property. A pure investment property in the City of Boulder cannot legally carry short-term income. Longmont and unincorporated Boulder County run separate licensing regimes that do allow a non-owner-occupied short-term rental, each with its own caps: Longmont limits a resident to one investment short-term rental and one per block face in some residential zones, and the county's Vacation Rental Licence is numerically capped by census county division, with none available in the Plains division. Confirm which jurisdiction the property sits in before underwriting nightly income.

Sources: bouldercolorado.gov, longmontcolorado.gov, bouldercounty.gov

Why do two Boulder County rentals at the same price carry different tax bills?
Because the tax bill follows the tax area, not the town. Boulder County has 354 tax areas with certified levies from 70.836 to 199.108 mills. Inside the City of Boulder the range is narrow, 86.884 to 105.141. Superior is the extreme case: town-level metro districts push some tax areas to 199.108 mills, so an identical $820,381 house can owe about $5,287 a year in the town's lowest tax area and about $10,525 in its highest, as of the 2024 abstract of assessment. Ask which tax area a specific parcel sits in, not just which town, before you size a DSCR payment.

Sources: assets.bouldercounty.gov

How much do I need to put down on a Boulder DSCR loan?
20% at a minimum. We go up to 80% LTV, so on a $956,462 Boulder mid-tier home that is up to $765,170 from us and $191,292 from you (956,462 x 80% = 765,170). In Boulder, the SFR-versus-blended rent gap above often decides your usable leverage before the down payment does: underwrite to the detached rent, not the blended index, and the ratio moves with it. Subject to underwriting.

More Rental / DSCR questions, answered on the program page

Resources

Guides for Rental / DSCR

Rental / DSCR · 5 min read
What Is a DSCR Loan? How Investors Qualify on Rental Income
Read the guide
Strategy · 6 min read
Financing the BRRRR Method: Buy, Rehab, Rent, Refinance, Repeat
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Rental / DSCR · 5 min read
DSCR vs Conventional Loan: Which Is Better for Investment Property?
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Rates & Costs · 5 min read
Hard Money Loan Rates and Costs, Explained
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About the local figures on this page

Local rules move. Every tax rate, fee, ordinance and market figure here comes from a primary source and carries the date we read it, and we correct them as the rules change. Where a number is mid-change or we could not verify it, we say so rather than guess. Before you commit a budget, confirm anything that drives it with the city or county, and talk to your attorney or CPA on questions of law or tax.

Published by USA Mortgage Funding, LLC, NMLS #152588. Researched from primary sources by our team, drafted with AI assistance, and every figure checked against its source before publishing. Where an answer rests on a public record, that record is linked under it. Figures read on 2026-08-28.

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