Rental / DSCR in Grand Junction

Healthcare, education, and government carry the local economy now, not oil and gas, and that's who fills the rent roll. Intermountain Health's St. Mary's Regional Hospital, Community Hospital, and the VA Western Colorado Health Care System together employ thousands as the tertiary medical hub for western Colorado and eastern Utah, and Mesa County Valley School District 51, Mesa County, Colorado Mesa University, and the City of Grand Junction round out the county's largest employers. Mining, quarrying, and oil and gas fell to about 5% of countywide output in 2022, down from 8% in 2017. A rent roll here leans on payroll from hospitals, schools, and government offices rather than a single cyclical industry.

Gross yield runs about 4.86% in Grand Junction and 4.76% in Clifton on July 2026 data, in a market where vacancy is unusually tight. Reported rental vacancy sits near 3.1%, roughly half a healthy benchmark, against a citywide housing shortfall estimated at 897 to 2,413 units. This is a yield-and-hold market, not a fast-appreciating one: home values are grinding up 2% to 3.5% a year rather than spiking, so the return case leans on the rent and the low carry cost (see the next question), not on comp appreciation.

Property tax runs about 0.456% of value, and the county's average homeowners insurance premium is $1,369 a year, less than half what a Denver owner pays. On a $427,763 Grand Junction house, that's roughly $1,950 in annual property tax and a combined tax-and-insurance carry near $3,300 a year. Colorado also doesn't reassess a property's value at sale; Mesa County revalues on its own two-year cycle instead, so the tax line in year one of a hold is predictable at underwriting rather than a surprise after closing.

Only inside a license and a cap, and the cap depends on where the property sits. The City of Grand Junction requires an annual short-term rental license ($275 per property) under Ordinance No. 5163, and caps primary STRs (renting every bedroom) at 7% of residentially zoned lots downtown and 3% everywhere else in the city. Those percentage caps apply to primary STRs only; a secondary STR, meaning fewer than all bedrooms or an accessory dwelling unit, is governed instead by a per-lot limit of one primary plus one secondary on lots of four or fewer units, and 10% of the units on lots of five or more. Whether a Grand Junction STR license transfers to a buyer at closing, and whether a waitlist exists once a cap is hit, has not been confirmed, so don't underwrite a nightly-rate pro forma on a resale property without confirming the license status with the city first.

Yes, and the difference matters more than the city's own cap. Fruita allows only 65 short-term rentals total, confined to a downtown triangle, and the permit does not transfer on a sale; a buyer starts over, and if the 65 are already spoken for there may be nowhere to start. Palisade caps STVR permits at a small fixed number under a 2025 ordinance, with a waitlist history. Unincorporated Mesa County, by contrast, has no confirmed numerical cap; it requires site plan review, a local manager available at all times, and can revoke approval after more than three verified nuisance or safety complaints in a year. Underwrite each jurisdiction's rules separately before you count STR income in the DSCR math.

No. Colorado has neither rent control nor just-cause eviction at the state level, and no rental registration or inspection program was found in Mesa County, Grand Junction, Fruita, or Palisade. That's a lighter regulatory lift for a buy-and-hold DSCR file than a market with a registry or inspection regime, though it's an absence found in this research rather than a guarantee none exists, so confirm current rules for the specific city before closing.

A DSCR (debt service coverage ratio) loan qualifies on the property's rental income instead of your personal income, so there are no W-2s or tax returns required. We compare the rent, from a signed lease or the appraiser's market-rent estimate, against the monthly payment. A DSCR of 1.00 means the rent covers the payment, and we lend with a DSCR as low as 0.75.

Our rental program starts around 5.50% interest-only, with 30-year fixed and 5/7/10-year ARM options, for a single property or a whole portfolio. The lowest pricing goes to strong credit, lower leverage, and a DSCR above 1.20; your quote depends on the file and is subject to underwriting.

We finance up to 80% loan-to-value on a purchase, with rate-and-term and cash-out refinances available, on loan amounts from $100K to $3M. Cash-out leverage is typically a little lower than purchase. The property's cash flow and your credit set your final leverage.

We start at 640, and the best pricing goes to strong credit. Because the loan qualifies on the asset, your score affects your rate and leverage more than whether you are approved.

Yes, short-term rentals are considered. We can underwrite using market or projected rents, and the property still needs to meet our DSCR. Tell us how the property is operated so we can structure it correctly.

Long-term rental loans usually carry a prepayment penalty, commonly a step-down such as 5/4/3/2/1. We offer flexible prepay structures, including buying down to a shorter penalty for a slightly higher rate, and we will lay out the options on your term sheet.