09/25/2025
💼 Mortgage Pro Tip for Business Owners or Self Employed 📑
💼 Here’s What Banks and Lenders Look For on Tax Returns 📑
Getting a mortgage when you’re self-employed or own a business works a little differently. Most lenders require:
✅ 2 Years of Tax Returns – Both personal & business returns to show stable income.
- In most cases Lenders take the average of the last 2 years.
✅ Profit & Loss Statements – To confirm your current year matches past performance.
✅ Consistency Matters – Lenders average your last 2 years of income. If your most recent year is lower by 20% or more, that lower number usually drives the approval.
- Banks and Lenders look for income being "consistent or likely to increase."
- For this reason, its helpful to consider a tax planning strategy for the year or time you plan on purchasing a new home.
✅ Add-Backs Can Help – Certain write-offs like depreciation or mileage may be added back to increase qualifying income.
- If you have large expenses like vehicles, large equipment, etc. you can "Depreciate" those large expenses which can help to keep qualifying income up, while still taking advantage of potential tax benefits.
Pro Tips:
💡 The way you file taxes impacts how much home you qualify for. Too many write-offs = lower qualifying income.
💡 As Oct 15th approaches, many lenders may require you file your return before Oct 15th.
💡 Many self employe'd people like to benefit from increased write offs, however, in the year you are planning to purchase a home, you may want to reconsider how you file.
💡 There are other loan program options like Bank Statement Loans which can help calculate qualifying income another way and can sometimes increase the amount of qualifying income.
📑 Let’s review your returns early so you’re ready to buy when the right property comes up. 📑