Rental / DSCR in Stillwater

Only inside one overlay district, not citywide. The Westwood Neighborhood Conservation Overlay (city code sections 23-275.5 and 23-275.6) caps unrelated occupants at three per dwelling unit and requires a separate bedroom for each of them, unless the owner holds a special occupancy permit to run a boarding or rooming house. No citywide unrelated-occupants cap was found in Stillwater's code, so a per-bedroom student-lease pro forma is not capped by default outside that one district. The overlay's boundary itself was not sourced here, so confirm with the city before you underwrite a specific block on the assumption you sit outside it.

Yes, with a city license, but a 2026 density cap works against investor-owned units specifically. Ordinance 3604, adopted 2026-06-15, requires a Short-Term Rental License ($250 to apply, $250 a year to renew) and caps active licenses at 20% of the dwelling units on a block in the city's single-family zones. The only way around that cap is a Payne County Homestead Exemption, which an LLC-titled or investor-owned rental cannot obtain, so the exemption effectively favors owner-occupants over investors. The license is also non-transferable: it expires the day you sell, and a buyer has to apply fresh. Run a block-level density check before you underwrite STR income on a Stillwater purchase.

No. Stillwater's Applications and Forms index lists a Short-Term Rental License and nothing else: no long-term residential rental license, registration, or inspection program. That's a real difference from cities that require annual rental registration before you can lease a unit for 30 days or more. It also means the city keeps no rental registry an investor could check before buying a scattered-site portfolio, so verifying a seller's compliance history falls to your own diligence rather than a public record.

Most of the city, and the rent-to-value ratio backs that up. Only 37.1% of occupied units in Stillwater are owner-occupied, so roughly six in ten are rented, and Oklahoma State University's Stillwater campus enrolled a record 27,655 students in fall 2025. Zillow put the city's typical rent at $1,405 a month in July 2026, up 7.9% year over year, against a typical home value of $270,073, a rent-to-value ratio that makes this a yield market more than a flip market. Per-bedroom student leasing is the local convention citywide outside the Westwood overlay described above, which is part of what supports that rent number.

About 1.15% of fair cash value a year, and there's no homestead exemption to lower it on an investor-owned property. Payne County applies an 11.40% assessment ratio, above the 11% constitutional floor Oklahoma's two core metro counties sit at, and the City of Stillwater's total mill levy runs 101.27 mills, which works out to roughly $1,154 per $100,000 of value (11.40% x 101.27 mills). Oklahoma's 5% annual valuation cap does cover non-homestead property, so the bill grows slowly once you're holding, but it resets in the year you buy and again in the year you improve the property. Pull the actual levy code for your parcel before you underwrite carry, not a county average.

At least 20%. We lend up to 80% LTV on a DSCR rental, so on a $270,073 house, Stillwater's typical value as of July 2026, that's about $216,058 from us and about $54,015 from you (270,073 x 80% = 216,058). Loan amounts run $100,000 to $3 million, and DSCR starts from 0.75. Factor the roughly 1.15% Payne County tax line into your escrow before you lock the rent assumption. Subject to underwriting.

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.