The Mill Rate Decides How Much You Can Borrow
Start here, because in Connecticut this matters more than your rate.
Property taxes sit inside your debt-to-income calculation. Connecticut’s effective rates are among the highest in the country and they vary sharply by municipality two comparable properties in adjacent towns can differ by several thousand dollars a year in taxes.
That difference does not just reduce your returns. It reduces your borrowing capacity. A borrower qualifying on $12,000 a month of documented 1099 income at a 45 percent DTI cap has $5,400 of total monthly debt capacity. Shift $300 a month of that to taxes and you have lost roughly $45,000 to $50,000 of purchase power at current rates.
Pull the actual mill rate for the specific town before you model anything. In Connecticut it belongs in the first conversation, not the appraisal review.
The Lenders
Select Home Loans
Select Home Loans is a Non-QM mortgage broker (NMLS #2384002) writing 1099 investor loans in Connecticut. Working across multiple wholesale investors matters here because Connecticut’s judicial foreclosure process makes investors noticeably more conservative on leverage and how conservative varies between them. A file capped at 75 percent LTV on one shelf may reach 80 on another.
We quote the DSCR and bank statement alternatives alongside the 1099 program so you can see which product actually produces the better outcome.
Get a quote · (888) 550-3296
Other lenders worth calling — listed in no particular order:
Alpine Mortgage Services A Connecticut mortgage broker operating for over 20 years, shopping multiple wholesale lenders across bank statement, P&L, and 1099 programs. Serves Stamford and Fairfield County, the shoreline including Mystic, and Hartford.
Generation Home Mortgage Founded in Manchester, Connecticut, with bank statement, DSCR, and 1099 programs and stated focus on the Hartford County market.
Mortgage Equity Partners of Connecticut Hartford-based, offering 1099-as-income, P&L only, DSCR, asset qualifier, and foreign national programs.
Deephaven Mortgage A long-established Non-QM lender active in Connecticut with DSCR and alternative documentation programs.
Brokers First Funding Holds a Connecticut Mortgage Lender License (#ML-243082) authorizing direct lending with its own funds statewide, across 1099, bank statement, DSCR, and asset utilization programs. Broker channel.
Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions Non-QM wholesale investor licensed in Connecticut with a dedicated 1099 income program.
Griffin Funding Publishes qualifying on 90 to 100 percent of gross 1099 income, 620 minimum credit, and loan amounts to $4 million.
Verify current licensure and program availability before relying on any listing. See the disclaimer at the end of this page.
Judicial Foreclosure Changes Your Terms
Connecticut requires foreclosure through the courts, and the process is slow even by judicial-state standards. Non-QM investors respond exactly as you would expect: more conservative LTVs, higher reserve requirements, and tighter appetite on marginal property types than you would see in a non-judicial state with an identical borrower.
Practically, plan on putting more down in Connecticut than the same file would require in Georgia or Alabama. This is not something a better lender fixes it is priced into the state. What a broker can do is find the investor whose Connecticut adjustment is smallest.
How Qualifying Works
A 1099 loan qualifies you on income documented on your 1099 forms rather than the net profit shown after deductions.
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 |
Given how much Connecticut’s tax burden eats into DTI capacity, that spread between the first two rows frequently determines whether a Fairfield County purchase is reachable at all.
One year or two
One-year suits growing income or a recent change in practice.
Two-year suits lumpy consulting income where a single large engagement can distort a year in either direction — which describes a great deal of Connecticut’s independent professional workforce.
The two-year self-employment history requirement is separate from the two-year income lookback. Ask about both.
Connecticut’s 1099 Population
Fairfield County independent finance, legal, and management consultants, frequently earning at NYC levels while living and buying in Connecticut. This is the state’s highest-value 1099 profile and often pushes into jumbo territory.
Defense and engineering contractors around the Groton submarine manufacturing operations, many on 1099 arrangements.
Hartford insurance and financial services independents running their own books of business.
New Haven biotech and life sciences contractors with consulting and contract income, including a meaningful international population where ITIN or foreign national programs may apply.
Hospitality and entertainment workers with irregular income around the eastern Connecticut casino economy.
Renovation and high-end construction owners working an aging housing stock.
Other Connecticut Specifics
High-cost loan limits. Western Connecticut is designated high-cost, with conforming limits materially above the national baseline. That determines where Non-QM jumbo pricing begins for you and it differs from the rest of the state.
Older housing stock. Much of Connecticut’s rental inventory predates 1978, bringing lead paint disclosure obligations, and predates modern electrical and plumbing standards. Appraisers flag deferred maintenance more often here, and some investors will condition on repairs.
Shoreline flood and wind. Coastal Fairfield County and the shoreline towns carry flood and wind considerations that add to monthly carrying cost and therefore reduce borrowing capacity through the same DTI mechanism as the mill rate. Confirm insurance availability and pricing before applying.
Two very different loan profiles. Lower Fairfield County pushes routinely into jumbo. Hartford, New Haven, and eastern Connecticut price far below that. The same lender may treat them as different programs.
Investment Property Terms
- Down payment: expect the higher end of the 20–25 percent range, and sometimes above it, given judicial foreclosure
- Credit: 620 floor at most investors; real improvements at 680, 700, 740
- Reserves: 6–12 months PITIA, trending toward the top of that range here
- Prepayment penalties: common on investment property, typically 1–3 years, often buyable at a quarter to a half point
1099 or DSCR?
Connecticut has an unusual DSCR dynamic. Fairfield County rental demand is driven by New York-level incomes while acquisition costs sit at Connecticut levels, which can produce DSCR fundamentals that work at price points where they would fail in Westchester.
But the state’s tax burden works against DSCR just as it works against DTI high taxes reduce net operating income and push the ratio down. A property that would clear 1.2 DSCR in a low-tax state may struggle here.
Use DSCR where the rent genuinely covers the payment after Connecticut taxes and insurance. Use a 1099 loan where it does not, or where your documented income unlocks better pricing than the property can.
Questions to Ask
- What is the mill rate on this specific property, and what does it do to my DTI?
- Do you qualify on gross 1099 income, or apply an expense factor?
- What LTV can you actually reach in Connecticut on an investment property?
- Will you run both the 1-year and 2-year scenarios?
- Have you closed a shoreline file recently, and how did flood coverage underwrite?
- Can you quote the DSCR alternative on the same property?
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, pricing, and availability change frequently and without notice, and nothing here guarantees that any lender is currently licensed in Connecticut, currently offers the program described, 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. Municipal mill rates, insurance availability, and property-specific conditions vary and should be verified independently. Verify any lender’s licensure through NMLS Consumer Access at nmlsconsumeraccess.org.
Select Home Loans, NMLS #2384002. Equal Housing Opportunity.
