The First Question Is Whether Anyone Will Lend Here
In most states, you shop lenders on price. In Alaska, you shop them on whether they will write the loan at all.
A meaningful number of Non-QM wholesale investors either exclude Alaska outright or restrict lending to Anchorage, the Mat-Su Valley, and Fairbanks. That is not a pricing preference it is a hard territorial exclusion, and it is the single most common reason an Alaska Non-QM file dies. Not income. Not credit. Geography.
So establish coverage before you establish anything else: do you lend in Alaska, and do you lend in my borough?
Once past that gate, Alaska is a good state for 1099 lending, because the state’s income profile is almost purpose-built for the product.
The Lenders
Select Home Loans
Select Home Loans is a Non-QM mortgage broker (NMLS #2384002) writing investor loans across Alaska. The territorial exclusion problem above is precisely what a broker solves we know which shelves write here and which do not, which saves you the two weeks it usually takes to discover that on your own.
We quote the DSCR and bank statement alternatives alongside the 1099 program so you can compare paths on the same property.
Get a quote · (888) 550-3296
Other lenders worth calling — listed in no particular order:
Capital Home Mortgage Anchorage Maintains a dedicated Anchorage operation across 1099, bank statement, asset, and DSCR programs, with a local Alaska phone line rather than a national queue.
Alaska Home HQ An Alaska-focused mortgage resource and originator publishing detailed state-specific Non-QM guidance covering DSCR, asset depletion, and alternative documentation for Alaska borrowers.
1st Nationwide Mortgage Publishes Alaska-specific bank statement and DSCR pages and shops wholesale lenders on the borrower’s behalf, with stated statewide coverage including remote boroughs.
Mbanc A direct lender publishing Alaska investment property programs across bank statement, 1099, asset utilization, and DSCR, including no-ratio DSCR structures and stated per-property maximums well above typical Alaska values.
Griffin Funding Publishes Alaska-specific bank statement and Non-QM content, with 1099 qualifying on 90 to 100 percent of gross income and a 620 minimum credit score.
Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions Non-QM wholesale investor with a dedicated 1099 income program. Confirm Alaska territory before proceeding.
Alaska coverage is genuinely uneven. Verify current licensure and territorial availability before relying on any listing see the disclaimer at the end of this page.
Seasonality Makes the Two-Year Program the Default
This is the section that matters most in Alaska.
A large share of Alaska 1099 income arrives in a compressed window. Commercial fishing and processing runs on season. Guiding and tourism operate roughly May through September. Construction works a short building season. Even North Slope contracting follows rotational patterns that concentrate earnings.
A 12-month lookback that happens to start in October and end in September captures a full cycle and works fine. One that starts in January captures one season and part of another, and can misrepresent a borrower by a wide margin in either direction.
The 24-month average is usually the safer representation for Alaska income, and it also gives the underwriter two comparable seasons to look at rather than one, which reduces the number of conditions that come back.
If a lender quotes you a one-year program without asking about seasonality, they have not looked at your file. Raise it yourself, with a short written explanation of your earning cycle, before the file goes in.
How Qualifying Works
A 1099 loan qualifies you on income documented on your 1099 forms rather than the net profit shown after deductions. Appraisal, assets, credit, reserves, and ability-to-repay analysis all work normally.
Programs split into two camps. Some apply 90 percent or more of gross 1099 income with no expense deduction. Others apply an expense factor of 10 to 25 percent first.
On $180,000 of annual 1099 income:
| Method | Qualifying income |
| 90% of gross | $162,000/yr — $13,500/mo |
| Gross less 20% expense factor | $144,000/yr — $12,000/mo |
| Net profit from your tax return | frequently under $80,000 |
Alaska amplifies the third row. The cost of operating a business here fuel, freight, equipment, remote logistics is high enough that heavy write-offs are not aggressive tax planning, they are accurate accounting. A fishing operation or air charter with genuine equipment depreciation can show a tax return that looks close to break-even while depositing well into six figures.
That is exactly the borrower a gross-receipts 1099 program is built for, and exactly the borrower a bank statement program applying a 50 percent expense factor would penalize a second time.
Alaska’s 1099 Population
Commercial fishing and seafood processing, concentrated seasonally and often structured as contract or share arrangements.
Tourism, guiding, and charter operations across the Kenai Peninsula, Southeast, and Interior.
North Slope oil and gas contractors, frequently on 1099 across rotational schedules.
Aviation and air charter operators, a larger category here than anywhere else in the country.
Construction trades working a compressed season under high material and freight costs.
Retail and service business owners in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Juneau.
What Slows an Alaska File Down
Appraisals outside the road system. Anchorage, the Mat-Su Valley, and Fairbanks have adequate comparable sales and underwrite cleanly. Smaller communities and off-road-system properties can take substantially longer, come in low, or be declined as ineligible collateral. Build the extra time into your contract, and expect the appraisal to cost more.
Carrying costs run well above the Lower 48. Heating, insurance, freight on materials, and maintenance all price higher, and all of it sits inside your qualification math. An investor modeling national averages will be wrong by a meaningful margin.
Earthquake exposure. Regional seismic considerations affect insurance pricing and, occasionally, lender appetite. Get an actual binder from a carrier that writes Alaska regularly rather than a national estimate.
Remote closings are normal. Most Alaska Non-QM lenders close remotely, which is helpful, but confirm notary and recording logistics for your borough early.
Investment Property Terms
- Down payment: 20–25 percent typical, with the higher end more common outside Anchorage
- Credit: 620 floor at most investors; real improvements at 680, 700, 740
- Reserves: 6–12 months PITIA, and Alaska’s higher carrying costs make those months larger in dollar terms than they look
- Prepayment penalties: common on investment property, typically 1–3 years, often buyable at a quarter to a half point
1099 or DSCR?
Anchorage rents support DSCR reasonably well, and the Mat-Su Valley and Fairbanks can work too. Where DSCR gets difficult is on seasonal properties a guiding lodge or a summer rental with a strong season and a dead winter produces an annualized rent figure that lenders discount heavily, if they accept it at all.
Use DSCR on conventional long-term rentals in Anchorage, Mat-Su, or Fairbanks with documented lease history.
Use a 1099 loan on seasonal properties, on anything where market rent is hard to establish from thin comparable data, or where the property has no rental history at all.
Questions to Ask
- Do you lend in Alaska, and specifically in my borough? (Ask this first.)
- Do you qualify on gross 1099 income, or apply an expense factor?
- My income is seasonal will you run the 24-month scenario?
- Have you appraised outside the road system recently, and how long did it take?
- Can you quote DSCR on the same property?
- What is the prepayment penalty, and what does removing it cost?
Disclaimer
The lenders described on this page are listed in no particular order. Select Home Loans appears first because we publish this page and originate these loans; we have a commercial interest in this category. No lender listed has paid for placement.
This page reflects our opinion based on publicly available information at the time of writing. It is general information, not a recommendation, an endorsement, or an offer of credit. Lender programs, guidelines, licensure, territorial coverage, pricing, and availability change frequently and without notice, and nothing here guarantees that any lender is currently licensed in Alaska, currently lends in your borough, or will approve your file.
Consult a licensed mortgage professional and where appropriate a tax advisor, attorney, or financial advisor before making any borrowing decision. Verify any lender’s licensure independently through NMLS Consumer Access at nmlsconsumeraccess.org.
Select Home Loans, NMLS #2384002. Equal Housing Opportunity.
