Bank Statement / No-Doc in Fort Myers

Because construction-trade self-employment here runs well above the state and national norm. Lee County had 12,680 construction-sector nonemployer businesses in 2023, up 54.8% from 8,194 in 2019, generating $1.12 billion in receipts; specialty trade contractors alone (roofers, framers, electricians) numbered 8,517, up 53.5% over the same span. Construction makes up 12.69% of all Lee County nonemployer businesses, against 9.66% for Florida and 9.59% nationally, so the concentration is genuinely local, not a statewide pattern. A nonemployer business is a proxy for self-employment, not a headcount of self-employed people, and the 2021-to-2023 jump sits inside the post-Hurricane Ian rebuild window, though that's timing, not proof the rebuild caused it. Where a borrower does file as an LLC or on a 1099, the return is usually written to hold taxable income down, not to prove it. A bank statement loan reads 12 to 24 months of deposits instead, so the write-offs that make sense for tax season don't work against the loan file.

Yes, and it has been four years of it. Hurricane Ian caused $109.5 billion in Florida damage and impacted at least 52,514 Lee County structures, with 5,369 destroyed and 14,245 carrying major damage, by the National Hurricane Center's final report. Rebuild work at that scale pulls in independent contractors, tradespeople, and small businesses alongside the larger firms, though we have no sourced breakdown of the split. If your income arrives as deposits from multiple jobs rather than one steady paycheck, bank statements usually tell your income story better than a return does.

It can, once we can see it in your deposits. Short-term rental operators here are running a licensed business, not collecting a paycheck: Fort Myers Beach requires STR registration under town Ordinance 18-01 through the Rentalscape portal, with annual renewal, a fire inspection, a 24/7 contact, and proof of the county's 5% tourist development tax and state sales tax registration, and a Cape Coral operator should confirm the city's current registration and local business tax requirements against the city code, which we could not verify from a primary source. Every Florida short-term rental also needs a state DBPR license. That's real revenue moving through a real business, and a bank statement loan is built to read exactly that kind of deposit history rather than require a conventional pay stub.

It can, and it's worth planning for. Cape Coral was the 5th-highest all-cash flip market in the country in Q1 2026, with 77.5% of flips purchased in cash, well above the 61.1% national rate. Flipping income is deal-based by nature: profit lands when a house sells, not on a biweekly schedule, and a return covering a slow year or a year with rehab write-offs can understate what an active flipper actually earns. If you're financing while your local competition is paying cash, a bank statement or asset-based file lets us underwrite the deal and your deposit history rather than a tax return that doesn't reflect a normal year.

The growth is real and it hasn't slowed through the price correction, which is the useful signal. Lee County grew from 760,827 people in April 2020 to 875,607 by July 2025, up 15.1% in five years, and Cape Coral alone grew 21.8% to 236,264 over the same span. That growth needs contractors, tradespeople, and small operators to build and service it, on top of the ongoing Ian rebuild, so the base of self-employed and 1099 borrowers here isn't a one-time post-storm bump. We can't hand you a demographic breakdown of who's self-employed, but the construction volume and the reconstruction demand documented for this metro both point the same direction.

$60,000 on that deal, plus closing costs. On a $300,000 Fort Myers purchase that is $240,000 from us and $60,000 from you (300,000 x 80% = 240,000). For a self-employed borrower here the down payment is usually the easier half of the file; the harder half at a bank is proving income, and this program reads 12 to 24 months of deposits instead of tax returns. Terms run short-term or 30-year, so the same deposit history can support either a hold or a shorter play. Subject to underwriting.

It can. We lend from $100,000 to $3 million. With 20% down, the loan amount rather than the purchase price is what has to clear the floor, so a low-priced Fort Myers house bought with extra cash down can fall under it while the same house at minimum down does not. If your deal sits close to the line, send us the purchase price before you write the offer and we will tell you which side it lands on. Subject to underwriting.

Not on this program. Bank statement loans start at 640. That floor holds even though the income side is flexible. Under it, our asset-based products, fix and flip and bridge, carry no minimum credit score, because the property and the equity qualify the deal rather than the borrower. There is no hard credit pull to start, so a Fort Myers contractor who is not sure where the score sits can find out what fits before anything touches the file. Subject to underwriting.