Rental / DSCR in Waxahachie

Yes. The gap runs as much as $1,390 a year on an identical $300,000 value, and it lands straight in the coverage ratio. Ellis County's own rate is two line items, not one: 0.255778 for the county plus 0.018214 for the Ellis County Lateral Road, totaling 0.273992 per $100. Layer in the city and school district and the full investor stack (county, lateral road, city, ISD) runs from 2.1699 per $100 in Ennis down to 1.7066 in Maypearl, with Waxahachie in between at 2.0521. On a $300,000 assessed value, that 0.4633 spread between Ennis and Maypearl works out to $1,389.90 a year (300,000 divided by 100 times 0.4633). None of it carries a homestead exemption or the 10% appraisal cap, because these are non-owner-occupied investment properties. Confirm the parcel's exact taxing entities with the Ellis County Tax Office before you finalize your numbers. Cedar Hill, Mansfield and Glenn Heights each spill across the line into Ellis County and the Ellis County Tax Office collects for all three, so a mailing address in one of those cities does not settle which county's rate a parcel pays. Verify the appraisal district, not the city name.

Only with city approval, and it is not automatic. Since Ordinance 3414 (adopted 2023-10-16), any short-term rental in Waxahachie outside the downtown Central Area zoning district needs a Specific Use Permit, decided case by case by the Planning and Zoning Commission and the City Council, on top of a $300 annual registration fee, an annual inspection, and written notice to adjoining property owners. Inside the Central Area district, registration alone is enough. Because the permit can be denied, do not price a purchase off an assumed nightly rate before the SUP is in hand. DSCR underwriting here works from documented lease income or market rent on the property, so treat a short-term rental pro forma as a separate question from the loan qualification until the permit exists.

The county's yield map runs backward from its prestige map. As of July 2026 Zillow data, gross rental yield (annualized rent over mid-tier home value, our arithmetic, not a cap rate and not adjusted for expenses) runs Ferris 8.5%, Ennis 7.4%, Red Oak 6.9%, Waxahachie 5.6%, and Midlothian 5.4%. A buyer shopping the county by school-district reputation alone can end up with the weakest coverage in it. This is a gross figure with no expense data behind it, so run your own numbers with the DSCR calculator before you count on a city's reputation to carry the loan.

Mostly flat to slightly down, with one clear exception. As of July 2026, Zillow's rent index (ZORI) shows Waxahachie down 0.3% year over year to $1,723 and Ennis down 1.8% to $1,622, while Red Oak is the county's one strong mover, up 6.8% to $2,018. Midlothian sits at $2,052, down 0.6%. Because most of the county is flat, size a DSCR loan on today's collected or documented market rent rather than an assumed increase, and let any further rent growth be upside on top of that. Model it with the DSCR calculator.

DSCR from 0.75 and credit from 640, with leverage up to 80% LTV. On a Waxahachie property near the city's July 2026 mid-tier value of $371,652, 80% leverage is up to $297,322 from us and about $74,330 from you (371,652 x 0.80 = 297,321.60). A DSCR below 1.0 means rent alone does not cover the full payment, and the usual answer is a smaller loan rather than a decline. Given how much the tax stack and the rent level both shift by city within Ellis County, run the coverage on the specific parcel's tax bill and documented rent, not a countywide average. Subject to underwriting.

DSCR loans run from $100,000 to $3,000,000, on 30-year fixed terms or a 5, 7 or 10 year ARM, with prepayment structured flexibly rather than on one fixed schedule. If a single door in a lower-priced city like Ennis or Ferris does not clear the floor on its own, a portfolio structure blending a few Ellis County properties, priced across one appraisal district and one tax office, is often the more efficient path than financing each one separately. Tell us at term sheet whether you plan to hold or trade the property so the term and prepayment structure match your plan. Subject to underwriting.