Case folios
Six files, and what turned each one
What a broker's site normally puts here is testimonials. This demonstration cannot have any, because it has no clients — so it shows the thing testimonials are a proxy for instead: what actually happened in the file.
No star ratings, no review counts, no quotes attributed to anyone. Every scenario below is written to illustrate a real mechanism; nobody said any of it and no person is depicted.
Folio 01stock photograph · not a clientBakery owner, Bywater
Two very different years, one steady average.
The problem. Twenty-two months of ordinary trading and two months of a catering contract that will not repeat. On a twelve-month look-back the file was either far too good or nowhere near enough, depending on which twelve months you chose.
The turn. Twenty-four months of statements flattened the spike into something a lender could believe. The expense factor was the real fight — an ownership letter and a note from the accountant moved it fifteen points.
The expense factor is the negotiation. The rate is the thing people argue about instead.
- Look-back used
- 24 months
- Expense factor moved by
- 15 points
- Route
- Bank statement
Folio 02stock photograph · not a clientFinish carpenter, Mid-City
Told he was non-QM. He was not.
The problem. Two clean years of returns, a truck on a five-year depreciation schedule and a home office deduction. Somebody had read the bottom line, seen a small number and stopped.
The turn. Adding the depreciation back put him inside a conventional loan with three percent down. Cheaper rate, cheaper mortgage insurance, and the paperwork he already had in a drawer.
Always add the returns up before deciding the returns do not work.
- Route first suggested
- Non-QM
- Route taken
- Conventional
- Add-back that mattered
- Depreciation
Folio 03stock photograph · not a clientWorking musician, Marigny
Paid by nine different people every month.
The problem. Club work, session fees, teaching, festival contracts and a licensing cheque that turns up twice a year. No business account at all — everything landed personally.
The turn. A personal-account statement programme takes no expense factor at all, which suited someone whose costs are a van and a horn. The work was proving which deposits were earnings and which were a shared rent transfer.
Personal statements: no expense factor, more explaining. Business statements: less explaining, a factor to fight.
- Account type
- Personal
- Expense factor
- None applied
- Deposits reviewed
- 12 months
Folio 04stock photograph · not a clientSalon owner, Uptown
The deposits looked wrong. The business was fine.
The problem. Card settlements arriving in daily batches, tips run through a third-party app, and chair rent paid in by four stylists on four different days. Adding up the deposits produced a number nobody recognised.
The turn. A signed twelve-month profit and loss statement told the story in one page. Two months of statements were still needed as a cross-check, and they had to agree — so we reconciled them before the lender did.
If the P&L and the statements disagree, find out why on your own time.
- Route
- P&L, 12 months
- Cross-check
- 2 months of deposits
- Prepared by
- Licensed third party
Folio 05stock photograph · not a clientFood truck owner, Gentilly
The insurance quote, not the rate, decided it.
The problem. A rental double where the rent comfortably covered the mortgage and then did not, once the insurance premium arrived. The coverage ratio fell under the programme minimum by a few dollars a month.
The turn. Pricing insurance before anything else changed the order of the whole deal. A larger down payment brought the ratio back over the line, and an interest-only period was priced as an alternative so the choice was visible.
On a Gulf South rental, quote the insurance first. Everything else is arithmetic around it.
- Route
- DSCR
- Binding number
- Insurance premium
- Fixes compared
- More down, or interest-only
Folio 06stock photograph · not a clientSold a business, Old Metairie
All the money, none of the income.
The problem. A business sold in the spring, the proceeds sitting in a brokerage account, and no new venture started yet. Income on paper: almost nothing. Cash: substantial.
The turn. A depletion programme divided the eligible balance into a monthly figure. The trap was double counting — money spent on the down payment cannot also be counted as income, and one lender’s divisor was twice another’s.
Ask what the divisor is before you ask what the rate is.
- Route
- Asset depletion
- Divisors compared
- 60 vs 120 months
- Employment income
- None required
The next step
Your file will not be one of these six.
It will be its own shape, which is the point. Tell me what makes yours awkward and I will tell you which mechanism applies.
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