Self-Employed Mortgages in Nashville
Your tax strategy shouldn't cost you the house. You write off everything you can — that's smart business. It also makes your tax return look broke, and the standard mortgage process punishes you for it. There's a better way to be measured.
Can I get a mortgage in Nashville if I'm self-employed?
Yes. Self-employed buyers in this town qualify every week — on bank statements, on a CPA-prepared profit and loss, on 1099s, or on assets — without a tax return ever entering the file. The conventional process is one way to be measured. It's the one that reads your Schedule C and stops. It's not the only one.
Why did the bank say no when my business is doing fine?
Here's the deal that dies every week: a business owner with strong revenue, real savings, and a CPA who does their job gets a pre-approval pulled — or never gets one at all. The lender didn't find a problem. The lender found a tax return that was optimized, exactly the way it's supposed to be, and the standard box can only read taxable income. You did everything right, and the box calls it a weakness.
The denial isn't a verdict on you. It's a measurement error. So we measure differently — qualifying you on what actually moves through your accounts, or what's sitting in them:
- iBank statement loans. 12–24 months of business or personal deposits stand in for the tax return. Your write-offs stop working against you. Fits contractors, agency owners, shop and restaurant operators, most 1099 earners.See it work: Case No. 001 — the capital raiser
- iiP&L programs. For an established business, a CPA-prepared profit & loss statement carries the file. Not the return. This is how a working musician got approved at $1.1M when his 1040 said $500K.See it work: Case No. 002 — the musician
- iiiAsset depletion. Retired with savings, or just sold a company? Your assets are your income. No employment income required; nothing gets liquidated or pledged.See it work: Case No. 003 — the founder who sold
- iv1099 loans. Contract nurses, real estate agents, consultants, session and touring musicians: qualify on your 1099s or deposits rather than the net number left after expenses. Ask — this one is more common than people think.
Who actually uses these loans in Nashville?
Contractors and tradespeople in Rutherford and Wilson County who run their business on a phone and a truck. Agency owners in the Gulch and East Nashville. Music Row — the eighty-five percent of working musicians in this city who are independent contractors and have never once had a W-2 to hand a bank. Physicians and post-exit founders in Williamson County whose wealth is in accounts, not paychecks. These aren't fringe products. They're how Nashville's business owners, contractors, and creatives are buying homes right now.
What does it cost, honestly?
The rates run a bit higher than a standard loan — that's the honest trade for the different measurement, and I'll show you the exact numbers for your scenario before you commit to anything. But for most people in this position the real comparison isn't this loan versus a conventional one. It's this loan versus waiting years for your tax returns to say what your bank account already says.
Why do these files close here when they fall apart elsewhere?
The ones that die late usually got shipped to an underwriter in another state who's never seen a file like yours. Ours are underwritten in-house — the person deciding your file is someone I can walk over and talk to. That's why I can tell you early, and honestly, whether yours works, and why most of these close in about three weeks once we're moving.
Michael DiLucchio (NMLS #1638482) is a mortgage loan officer with Guild Mortgage in Nashville, Tennessee. His practice focuses on bank statement, P&L, 1099, asset depletion, DSCR and physician loans for self-employed borrowers, business owners, contractors, creatives and retirees across Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Sumner and Wilson counties.
Do I need two years of tax returns?
Not for these programs — they don't use tax returns at all. Most want about two years of self-employment history, with exceptions when a longer career in the same field carries the file. Case No. 001 is what an exception looks like.
Can a 1099 contractor or musician get a mortgage?
Yes. 1099 income, bank deposits or a CPA-prepared P&L can all carry the file instead of the net figure on a Schedule C.
I'm retired, or I just sold my business. I have money but no income. Can I buy?
Yes. Asset depletion converts your liquid assets into a qualifying income figure. Your money stays where it is, still invested. How it works →
Will this pull my credit?
Not to get an answer from me. Sending the form below is a conversation, not an application. Nothing gets pulled until you decide to move forward.
Is this more expensive than a conventional loan?
Typically somewhat, yes. For borrowers a conventional loan won't approve, the choice is usually this or waiting years.
Do you only work in Nashville proper?
No — Davidson, Williamson, Rutherford, Sumner and Wilson counties, and elsewhere in Tennessee. Ask if you're further out.
🪩