Sacramento Home Mortgage Loans | The Chris Kennedy Team
Are you or anyone you know looking to buy, sell or refinance? Check out our website for all the answers to your questions!
downtown-sacramento-skyline-at-dusk.jpg

Sacramento Housing Blog

Sacramento Housing Blog

Laptop, notebook and coffee cup on a desk set up to review Sacramento mortgage options

Learn more about the housing market…

New posts each week!

Why Buying a Home is the Best Investment

Welcome to The Chris Kennedy Team Mortgage Blog

Honest, local, easy-to-understand mortgage guidance for buyers and homeowners across Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo Counties.

Hi — I'm Chris Kennedy. For years, I've helped first-time buyers, veterans, families upsizing into their forever homes, and seasoned investors navigate one of the biggest financial decisions of their lives: getting a mortgage in the greater Sacramento area.

This blog exists for one simple reason. Most mortgage advice online is generic, confusing, or written by people who've never closed a loan in Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, or Davis. I wanted to change that.

Every post on this site is written for you — the buyer, homeowner, or veteran trying to make sense of mortgages in a real Northern California market. Real numbers. Real neighborhoods. Real programs that actually work here.

What you'll find on this blog

Whether you're brand new to homebuying or you've owned for decades, you'll find practical, local guidance on every part of the mortgage process. The articles below cover:

For first-time buyers — How to qualify, how much you really need to put down, how to use CalHFA assistance, and how to stop waiting and start owning.

For veterans, active-duty service members, and surviving spouses — Everything you need to know about putting your VA home loan benefit to work in Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, and beyond. Zero down. No PMI. The benefit you earned.

For move-up buyers and luxury buyers — Jumbo loan strategies for higher-priced markets like El Dorado Hills, Granite Bay, Serrano, and Bass Lake — including how to qualify, what reserves you'll need, and how to compete in luxury bidding wars.

For investors and wealth-builders — How to use FHA multi-family loans (yes, with just 3.5% down) to "house hack" your first investment property, plus the long-term wealth-building strategy that real estate quietly delivers better than almost any other investment.

For buyers in rural and semi-rural areas — A breakdown of USDA loans across Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo counties, where surprisingly large portions of the region qualify for $0-down financing.

For credit-building buyers — How FHA loans help buyers with imperfect credit get into Sacramento-area homes, plus practical credit improvement strategies that actually move the needle.

Why this blog is different

Three things set this content apart:

It's local. Every article names real neighborhoods, real Sacramento-area home prices, and real programs available in Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo counties — not vague national advice.

It's honest. I tell you what works, what doesn't, what the catches are, and when a loan isn't right for you. No high-pressure pitches. No fine print buried at the bottom.

It's actionable. Every post is built so that by the end, you know what to do next — whether that's running numbers, checking eligibility, or starting a conversation.

A little about me

I've spent my career helping Sacramento-area families navigate mortgages — through every kind of market, every kind of loan, and every kind of buyer situation. I've helped:

  • First-time buyers close with $0–$5,000 out of pocket using FHA + CalHFA strategies

  • Veterans buy in Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, and El Dorado Hills with zero down

  • Move-up families step into luxury markets using jumbo financing

  • Investors build long-term wealth through smart house-hacking and refinance strategies

  • Self-employed borrowers other lenders turned away find creative solutions

My team and I serve the entire greater Sacramento region, including:

  • Sacramento County — Sacramento, Elk Grove, Folsom, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, Antelope, Natomas

  • Placer County — Roseville, Rocklin, Lincoln, Auburn, Loomis, Granite Bay

  • El Dorado County — El Dorado Hills, Cameron Park, Placerville, Diamond Springs, Pollock Pines

  • Yolo County — Davis, Woodland, West Sacramento, Winters, Esparto

If you're buying anywhere in Northern California, there's a good chance we can help.

Start exploring

Scroll down to find articles tailored to your situation. If you're not sure where to begin, here are three good starting points:

Ready to talk?

Reading is great — but a 15-minute conversation will tell you more about what's possible for your specific situation than any article ever could. No pressure, no obligation, no salesy follow-up calls.

Chris Kennedy | The Chris Kennedy Team NMLS# 971546 Mortgage Lender serving Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado, and Yolo Counties www.thechriskennedyteam.com

[CALL NOW] | [GET PRE-APPROVED] | [SEND ME A MESSAGE]

The Chris Kennedy Team specializes in FHA, VA, USDA, conventional, jumbo, and CalHFA loans throughout Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, El Dorado Hills, Granite Bay, Davis, Woodland, Auburn, Lincoln, Rocklin, Cameron Park, and the surrounding Northern California region. Browse the articles below to learn more — or reach out anytime.

DSCR Loans in Sacramento: Investor Financing Explained

If you've ever tried to qualify for a mortgage on a rental property using your tax returns, you already know the problem. Every deduction you took to lower your tax bill also lowers the income a lender sees. Depreciation, repairs, management fees, all the stuff a good accountant tells you to write off, works against you the moment you try to qualify for a loan the traditional way.

DSCR loans exist to solve that problem, and they've become one of the more useful tools for investors buying rental property in Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks, and other rental-heavy corridors around Sacramento.

What DSCR Actually Means

DSCR stands for debt service coverage ratio. Instead of qualifying you based on your personal income and tax returns, the lender looks at whether the property's rental income covers the property's debt payment. That's it. No W-2s, no tax returns, no debt-to-income calculation based on your personal finances.

The ratio is simple: monthly rental income divided by monthly debt payment (principal, interest, taxes, insurance, and HOA if applicable). A ratio of 1.0 means the rent exactly covers the payment. Most DSCR programs want to see something above 1.0, though the exact minimum varies by lender and by how the rest of your file looks.

Why This Matters in the Sacramento Rental Market

Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights, and Fair Oaks all have solid, established rental demand, close to job centers, near the American River, and with a housing stock that includes a lot of the kind of single-family and small multi-unit properties DSCR loans are built for. If you're a self-employed investor, a real estate agent building a portfolio, or someone who already owns a few properties and doesn't want your personal tax return doing the underwriting work, this is worth understanding.

What to Expect

A few realities of DSCR loans, stated plainly so there's no surprise later:

  • Down payments are typically higher than an owner-occupied loan. Expect this to be a bigger cash outlay than buying your primary residence.

  • Rates run higher than a conventional owner-occupied mortgage, since the lender is taking on investor risk instead of owner-occupied risk.

  • Prepayment penalties are common on DSCR loans, often structured on a declining scale over the first few years. Read this section of your loan estimate carefully and ask us to walk you through it before you sign anything.

  • Reserves matter. Most DSCR lenders want to see a cushion of cash left over after closing, on top of your down payment and closing costs.

None of that is a knock on the product, it's just how it's built. It trades a higher rate and bigger down payment for underwriting that doesn't touch your personal tax returns.

FAQ: DSCR Loans in Sacramento

Do I need to show my personal income to qualify? No. DSCR loans qualify based on the property's rental income covering the property's debt payment, not your personal income or tax returns.

Can I use a DSCR loan for my first rental property? Yes, DSCR loans aren't limited to experienced investors. They're often easier to qualify for than a conventional investment property loan if your personal tax returns show a lot of write-offs.

Do DSCR loans work on multi-unit properties? Many DSCR programs cover 1 to 4 unit properties, sometimes more depending on the lender. The rental income used to calculate the ratio typically comes from a market rent appraisal or an existing lease.

Is a DSCR loan the same as a hard money loan? No. DSCR loans are long-term financing, typically 30-year fixed or adjustable structures, not short-term bridge or rehab financing.

If you're looking at rental property anywhere in Sacramento, Placer, or El Dorado County and want to know what a DSCR loan would actually look like on a specific property, send us the numbers and we'll run it.

Chris KennedyComment