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Non-QM loans in Michigan: find the one that fits you
Self-employed, investor, retiree, or rebuilding after a credit event — there's a non-QM program built for how you actually earn. This page sorts them by borrower, not by brochure.
A non-QM loan — short for non-qualified mortgage — is a home loan that doesn't follow the federal Qualified Mortgage rulebook behind conventional, FHA, and VA lending. Instead of proving income with tax returns and W-2s, you document it the way you actually earn it: 12 or 24 months of bank deposits, the rent a property produces, or the assets in your investment and retirement accounts. Non-QM is not a no-doc loan, and it is not subprime — lenders still verify your ability to repay, they just measure real-world income instead of taxable income. I'm Jason Yourofsky (NMLS #137016), and at Atlantis Mortgage (NMLS #129429) in Farmington Hills I've spent 28 years — more than $2 billion funded — using these programs to approve borrowers a bank already turned down. This page sorts the non-QM family by borrower, so you can find your fit. Call or text 248-408-2555.
Non-QM vs. QM: what the rulebook actually says
After the 2008 housing crisis, federal regulators drew a box around home lending. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Qualified Mortgage rule — the plain-language version lives at consumerfinance.gov — defines a QM as a loan where the lender documented income a specific way (tax returns, W-2s, pay stubs), kept fees inside set limits, and avoided features like interest-only periods, negative amortization, and balloon payments. Lenders who stay inside that box get legal protection. Conventional, FHA, and VA loans live there, and for a salaried W-2 borrower, that box works beautifully.
A non-QM loan is any mortgage written outside that box. And here is the part most borrowers get wrong: "qualified" describes the paperwork, not the person. Some of the strongest files I see in a given year are non-QM files — high income, high assets, serious reserves — that simply can't be documented the QM way.
Think about who falls outside the box. A surgeon who runs her practice through an S-corp and shows $180,000 on her 1040 after legitimate deductions — while the practice actually generates three times that. A real estate investor with twelve cash-flowing rentals whose Schedule E, after depreciation, shows almost nothing. A 68-year-old retiree with $2 million in investment accounts and no W-2 at all. Each of those borrowers has real, verifiable financial strength. None of them fits QM documentation.
Loan size can push you out of the box too. The 2026 conforming loan limit in most Michigan counties is $832,750 — above that you're in jumbo territory, and many jumbo programs are themselves non-QM. Different documentation. Not lesser borrowers.
Non-QM is not the return of 2006
I get this question on half my non-QM calls: "Isn't this the stuff that blew up the market?" No. The stated-income, no-doc loans of the mid-2000s required proof of nothing. Modern non-QM is the opposite: federal ability-to-repay rules still apply to every one of these loans, and lenders verify everything — they just verify it through bank deposits, rental cash flow, or asset statements instead of tax returns. Underwriters count months of reserves, source large deposits, and stress the numbers before they sign off.
In 28 years I've watched this corner of the market tear itself down and rebuild around one principle: prove the borrower can pay — just measure income the way the borrower actually earns it. That's the whole idea. Everything below is a variation on it.
Which borrower are you? The non-QM family, sorted
Most non-QM pages hand you a menu of twelve programs and wish you luck. That's backwards. The right program follows from who you are and how your money moves — so start with the profile that sounds like you, and I'll point you at the right tool. If you're a blend of two profiles, that happens constantly, and it's exactly the kind of file I like working.
The 1099 contractor or commission earner
You're a freelance consultant, a 1099 sales rep, an owner-operator, a realtor on straight commission. The income is real but lumpy, and after business-expense deductions your tax returns understate what you actually clear. You have two clean routes. A 1099-only program qualifies you on your gross 1099s with an expense factor applied — no full tax returns. A bank statement loan qualifies you on 12 or 24 months of actual deposits instead. Picture the difference: $11,000 a month in average deposits reads very differently to a bank-statement underwriter than the $60,000 your Schedule C showed last April. Same person, same business — the program just changes which truth gets counted.
Your route: Bank statement loans — and for the full playbook on qualifying without W-2s, start with my self-employed mortgage guide.
The S-corp or LLC owner whose CPA did their job
Your accountant legally wrote off the vehicles, the depreciation, the home office, the retirement contributions — and turned a business that banks $40,000 a month into a tax return that says you earn $9,000. A traditional underwriter reads the return and stops there. A bank-statement underwriter reads the deposits: 12 or 24 months of business statements, an expense factor applied (often around 50% for service businesses, though it varies by industry and lender), and your qualifying income gets rebuilt from actual cash flow. Run the rough math on your own numbers: $40,000 in monthly deposits at a 50% expense factor is $20,000 a month of qualifying income — more than double what the 1040 says. That gap is the difference between a denial and an approval, and it's the single most common file I fix.
Your route: Bank statement loans.
The real estate investor
You don't want your personal income in the file at all — and with a DSCR loan, it isn't. DSCR (debt-service coverage ratio) programs qualify the property, not the person: take the market rent, divide it by the full monthly payment — principal, interest, taxes, insurance, association dues — and if the ratio clears the program's bar, the deal can stand on its own. No tax returns, no personal debt-to-income calculation, and no cap at ten financed properties the way conventional rules impose. A duplex renting for $2,400 against a $2,000 all-in payment is a 1.20 ratio — a number every DSCR underwriter speaks fluently. Whether you're a Michigan landlord or an out-of-state investor buying into Detroit or Grand Rapids, this is the tool built for you.
Your route: DSCR loans.
The retiree or high-net-worth borrower living on assets
No W-2, no pay stub — just a serious balance sheet. Asset depletion (you'll also hear "asset-based" or "asset utilization") converts what you own into qualifying income. The lender totals your eligible assets, applies a haircut by asset type — cash counts fully, while securities and retirement accounts are discounted — then divides the result across the program's term to produce a monthly income figure. Here's what matters: the divisor and the haircuts vary meaningfully from program to program, which means one lender's "no" tells you nothing about the next lender's "yes." This is the least-known program in the family, and for the right borrower it's the cleanest — no business documentation at all, just statements proving what you hold.
Your route: Asset depletion loans.
The borrower with a recent credit event
A bankruptcy, foreclosure, or short sale in your recent past doesn't end the conversation. Conventional financing imposes waiting periods that can stretch several years; certain non-QM programs will consider a file far sooner, weighing what caused the event, how your credit has rebuilt since, and the strength of your down payment and reserves. Approval is never automatic — these files get placed lender by lender, matched to the investor whose guidelines actually fit your timeline and your story. That's why this profile, more than any other, should start with a conversation instead of a form.
Your move: call or text me at 248-408-2555 and walk me through what happened. I've heard it all, and I don't judge files — I place them.
When non-QM is the wrong answer
Here's something a non-QM-only lender will never tell you: sometimes you don't need a non-QM loan at all. I broker every loan type — conventional, FHA, VA, jumbo, and the whole non-QM family — so I have no incentive to push you into a costlier program when a cheaper one fits. I've taken plenty of self-employed borrowers who walked in asking about bank statement loans and qualified them conventionally, because two solid years of tax returns plus an underwriter who knows how to add back depreciation can change the math entirely. Paper losses are not always real losses, and a good broker checks the inexpensive box before opening the expensive one.
So treat non-QM as what it is: a second door, not a consolation prize — and not a default. The first thing I do with any file is test whether the conventional door opens. If it does, you take it and keep the savings. If it doesn't, you're already standing in the right hallway, and this page just showed you every door in it.
What if you're two of these borrowers at once?
Real files are rarely tidy. The business owner approaching retirement has bank deposits and a brokerage account — some programs let me count both, stacking bank-statement income with asset-depletion income on the same application. The self-employed contractor buying a rental can keep her personal income out of the deal entirely with a DSCR loan, saving her bank-statement qualifying power for the next primary-home move. These combinations are where one lender's rigid menu fails and a broker's lender map wins — because the question isn't "which product does this lender sell," it's "which investor's guidelines let your whole financial picture count." That's a matching problem, and matching is the job.
What each program asks you to document
Every non-QM program trades tax returns for a different kind of proof. Here's the short version of what lands on my desk for each:
- Bank statement: 12 or 24 months of personal or business statements, a business narrative, and your licenses or articles of organization.
- DSCR: a lease or market-rent appraisal, the property's tax and insurance figures, and your entity documents if you're buying in an LLC.
- Asset depletion: recent statements for the accounts you want counted — brokerage, retirement, cash — plus sourcing for any large recent deposits.
- 1099-only: your 1099s for the most recent year or two and proof the business is active.
Across all of them, expect a down payment generally in the 10–30% range depending on program, credit, and occupancy, and expect the lender to want reserves — months of payments in the bank after closing. That's modern non-QM: flexible on the paperwork, serious about the ability to repay.
The honest part: non-QM usually costs more than conventional
I'm not going to dance around this, because the pages that do are the reason borrowers get surprised at the closing table. A non-QM loan typically carries a higher cost than a comparable conventional loan. The reason is structural, not sinister: conventional loans are backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and FHA and VA loans by the federal government. Non-QM loans are funded by private investors who hold the risk themselves — and they price for it.
Here's what matters more than the fact that non-QM costs more: how much more varies widely from one lender to the next. The same file — same credit score, same down payment, same bank statements — can be priced meaningfully differently by different non-QM investors, because each has its own appetite, its own expense-factor rules, and its own rate sheet. There is no Fannie Mae standardizing this market. The borrower who only ever sees one lender's sheet has no idea what they left on the table.
This is exactly where a wholesale broker earns their keep. Walk into a direct non-QM lender and you'll get one sheet — theirs — presented as if it were the market. Atlantis Mortgage works the other direction: I shop your file across 50+ wholesale lenders, including multiple competing non-QM investors, and let them compete for it. One may calculate your qualifying income higher because of how it treats your deposits; another may price the same income better. I take the best of both conversations and hand you the result. Competition is the only consumer protection that actually works in non-QM pricing, and a broker is how you get it.
And when we talk actual numbers for your file, you'll get them the right way: a complete quote with the rate, the APR, and every fee disclosed together — never a teaser figure floating without context.
How I work a non-QM file
First, a conversation — usually fifteen minutes. I want to know how the money actually moves: what the business deposits, what the property rents for, what the accounts hold. Second, the match: I run your profile against the programs above and against the investors I know will want it, and I tell you plainly which route produces the strongest qualifying income. Third, the numbers, fully disclosed. Fourth, the file itself — and this is where 28 years shows up, because non-QM underwriters ask follow-up questions that conventional ones never do, and a file packaged right the first time closes weeks faster than one that bounces back.
You deal with me, not a call center. When you call 248-408-2555, the owner answers — the same person who structures the file, shops the lenders, and sits with it until it closes.
Non-QM loans in Michigan — and Florida, Texas, and California
My office is at 30110 Orchard Lake Rd in Farmington Hills, and Michigan is home turf: builders and trades across Metro Detroit, restaurant owners in Oakland County, realtors and 1099 reps everywhere, landlords rebuilding Detroit block by block. Michigan's economy runs on exactly the borrowers non-QM was built for — self-employed, small-business, investor — and almost nobody in this state explains these programs in plain language. That's the gap this page exists to close.
Atlantis Mortgage is also licensed in Florida, Texas, and California — so when the Michigan business owner buys the place in Naples, or the investor picks up a Texas rental, the same broker and the same file travel with you.
Non-QM loan questions, answered
What is a non-QM loan?
A non-QM loan (non-qualified mortgage) is a home loan that sits outside the federal Qualified Mortgage rules. Instead of qualifying with tax returns and W-2s, you document income another way — bank deposits, rental cash flow, or assets. Lenders still verify your ability to repay; they just measure it differently. Atlantis Mortgage (NMLS #129429) brokers the full non-QM family: bank statement, DSCR, asset depletion, and 1099 programs.
What are the downsides of a non-QM loan?
Non-QM loans typically cost more than conventional financing, down payments are usually larger (10-30% depending on the program), and pricing varies widely from one lender to the next. That last point is also the fix: a broker who shops your file across multiple non-QM investors keeps any single lender's pricing honest. Non-QM also has fewer standardized rules, so working with someone experienced in these files matters.
Do non-QM loans require a higher down payment?
Usually, yes. Most non-QM programs ask for 10-30% down, compared with as little as 3-5% on some conventional and FHA loans. Where you land in that range depends on the program, your credit profile, the property type, and whether it is a primary home, second home, or investment property. Larger down payments generally unlock better terms.
Who qualifies for a non-QM loan?
Non-QM serves borrowers whose real income or assets traditional paperwork understates: self-employed business owners, 1099 contractors, real estate investors, retirees and high-net-worth borrowers living on assets, and people recovering from a recent credit event. You still have to demonstrate the ability to repay — through deposits, rental cash flow, or asset balances — and credit score, down payment, and reserves all factor into the approval.
How do non-QM rates compare to conventional rates?
Non-QM pricing typically runs higher than conventional, because these loans are not backed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, or a government agency — private investors carry the risk and price for it. The spread varies meaningfully by program, credit profile, down payment, and lender, which is exactly why shopping multiple non-QM investors matters. Exact rates and APRs depend on your full file; call 248-408-2555 for a quote with complete disclosures.
Can I get a non-QM loan after a bankruptcy or foreclosure?
Often, yes. Conventional loans impose waiting periods that can run several years after a bankruptcy, foreclosure, or short sale. Some non-QM programs will consider a file much sooner — in certain cases roughly a year after the event — based on re-established credit, your down payment, and the overall strength of the file. Approval is never automatic; it comes down to documentation and the right lender match.
Find out which non-QM program fits you
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