A portfolio loan wraps several rentals into one blanket mortgage, while individual loans keep each property on its own note — and the right choice depends on how you plan to grow and sell. Investors ask us about portfolio loans almost every week. Both structures can finance the same houses at similar rates. The difference shows up in paperwork, flexibility, and what happens when you want to sell one property.
What a portfolio loan is
A portfolio loan, often called a blanket loan, places five, ten, or fifty rentals under one note with one monthly payment. Lenders underwrite the combined rents against the combined debt service, usually on a DSCR basis. Consequently, one strong property can carry a weaker one inside the same pool.
How individual loans differ
With individual loans, each rental has its own note, its own closing, and its own DSCR test. You can shop each deal separately and pay one off without touching the others. The trade-off is repetition: every property means another appraisal, another title policy, and another set of closing costs.
When portfolio loans make sense
Portfolio loans shine at scale. One closing replaces ten, so total costs drop and management gets simpler. They also help when a couple of properties would not qualify alone, because the pool’s blended DSCR does the qualifying. Run your combined numbers with our DSCR calculator before you commit.
What to compare before you choose
- Release clauses: confirm what it costs to pull one property out of a blanket loan when you sell it.
- Closing costs: one blanket closing usually beats ten individual closings by a wide margin.
- Flexibility: individual loans let you refinance or sell one asset without disturbing the rest.
- Reporting: one payment simplifies bookkeeping, but a default can expose every property in the pool.
Whichever structure you pick, review the note’s terms carefully; the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau publishes plain-language guides to mortgage terms that apply to investors too.
A typical deal
An investor owns eight single-family rentals across Broward County, each with an older high-rate mortgage. A portfolio lender offers one $1.9 million blanket loan at 70 percent LTV on a 30-year term. Combined rents of $22,000 a month produce a 1.30x DSCR. One closing pays off eight loans, cuts the blended rate, and frees about $2,400 in monthly cash flow. A release clause at 120 percent of the allocated balance lets him sell any single house later.
Tell us about your properties
Alpha Equity Lending structures both portfolio loans and individual rental loans across Florida and nationwide. Share your property list through our submit your deal page and we will map out both options side by side — in English or Spanish.
By Andres Jara — Alpha Equity Lending (NMLS #1855083). 20+ years in real estate finance, an MS in Finance, and an active South Florida investor and landlord.
