Bank Statement Loans in Texas

Why Bank Statement Loans Matter in Texas’s Market

Texas’s median home price is forecast to hit $334,000 by the end of 2026, according to the Texas Real Estate Research Center at Texas A&M University. That’s below prices in California or New York, but the gap between income and housing cost is widening fast. Census data reported by the Texas Tribune shows Texas median household income grew just 3.1% over the past five years while median rent rose 9.1% after inflation. More than half of Texas renters now spend over 30% of their income on housing, and 29% of homeowners with a mortgage do too. A W-2 employee proves they can handle the payment with a pay stub. A self-employed buyer often has the income; the paperwork just doesn’t show it.

Here’s why bank statement loans make sense in Texas:

• Texas runs on the self-employed: The SBA counted about 3 million nonemployer businesses in Texas in 2025, people working for themselves with no staff, on top of nearly 494,000 small businesses that do have employees. Together they make up 99.8% of all businesses in the state.
• Write-offs make qualifying harder than it should be. Many self-employed borrowers in Texas write off freely to stay lean, which reduces the net income figure a conventional underwriter uses to qualify them. IRS data shows that, nationally, sole proprietors report net income at roughly 20-23% of business receipts on average, well below the 50% of deposits Griffin Funding counts toward qualifying income by default. A bank statement loan uses that deposit history to determine qualifying income instead of relying on an adjusted tax figure.
• Fast-growing metros need loan amounts that keep up: Austin’s typical single-family home now runs around $534,914 (Zillow), and other Texas metros are climbing too. As a non-QM product, a bank statement loan sizes the loan to real cash flow instead of a tax return that undersells it.
• Texas’s contract economy spans the whole state: oil and gas consultants in Midland and Houston, tech and creative freelancers in Austin, defense and cybersecurity contractors in San Antonio, cross-border trade specialists in El Paso and the Rio Grande Valley. None of that income shows up cleanly on a W-2, which is exactly the gap bank statement loans are built for.

Sources: Zillow home value data (July 2026), U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy, and IRS Statistics of Income (Nonfarm Sole Proprietorships, 2008-2015; SOI Bulletin, Spring 2025).

How Texas Bank Statement Loans Work

For most self-employed buyers, the obstacle to a mortgage isn’t income. It’s how that income looks on paper. A business owner who deducts every expense the tax code allows can show a taxable income far below what they actually bring home, which can make a real income look too thin to a conventional underwriter.

Bank statement loans skip the tax return and go straight to your cash flow. Griffin Funding reviews 12 or 24 months of personal or business bank statements and calculates your qualifying income from actual deposits.

How much of those deposits count depends on the account type. Personal statements count 100% of deposits. Business statements typically apply a 50% expense factor.

To qualify for a bank statement loan, you’ll need:

• Credit score: 620 minimum
• Self-employment history: 2 years minimum (or 1 year if you’ve stayed in the same industry)
• Down payment: 10% with a 680+ credit score (loans up to $1M); 20% minimum with a 620–679 score
• Bank statements: 12 or 24 months of personal or business statements showing consistent deposits
• Property types: Single-family, multi-unit, short-term rental, and long-term rental properties are all eligible, so a first home with a rental unit still qualifies
• LLC ownership: Properties can be held in an LLC or S-Corp

Prior bankruptcy requires a two-year waiting period before applying.

View Bank Statement Loan Requirements

Today’s Bank Statement Mortgage Loan Rates in Texas

Griffin Funding lends directly, so you get competitive non-QM rates with no broker markup. As of August 2026, bank statement loan rates run 6.5% to 7.5%, depending on your credit score, down payment, loan amount, and buydown points.

Texas Housing Markets for Self-Employed Buyers

Texas runs the gamut from booming tech hubs to towns where a modest income still buys a house outright. Here’s where the state’s freelance, contract, and small-business economy is strongest, and what it means for a self-employed buyer.

Major Metros

• Dallas-Fort Worth: More corporate headquarters have relocated to DFW than any other metro in the country: 100 companies moved their headquarters here between 2018 and 2024, ahead of Austin’s 81, and the region’s public company market cap has doubled to $1.5 trillion in that span. All that growth needs consultants, IT contractors, and construction subcontractors to keep up.
• Houston: Energy consultants, Texas Medical Center contract clinicians and travel nurses, and Port Houston logistics freelancers all find steady contract work here. Texas Medical Center is the largest medical complex in the world, over 120,000 employees and 10 million patient encounters a year, and it relies on contract and travel staff to keep that scale running. Port Houston is the nation’s number one port by tonnage and supports 1.54 million jobs across Texas. 
• Austin: Tech contractors, freelance developers, and the musicians and film crews behind SXSW and ACL make Austin one of the most freelance-friendly economies in the state. SXSW generated $377.3 million for the local economy in 2024, and ACL contributed $558 million in 2025, real work for the sound techs, stagehands, and production crews who staff them. Separately, Austin’s broader freelance economy pulled in nearly $4 billion in economic impact in 2023, spanning creative, technical, and professional services work well beyond festival season. It’s also one of the priciest on the market, which is exactly where bank statement math helps most, since a tax return usually undersells what a freelancer or startup founder actually earns.
• San Antonio: Home to one of the largest concentrations of military bases in the country, San Antonio also has a growing cybersecurity and defense-contractor cluster around Port San Antonio: over 1,000 cybersecurity professionals work there alongside anchor tenants like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Booz Allen Hamilton, plus healthcare, bioscience, and tourism jobs tied to the Riverwalk and the Alamo. 

Affordable Markets

• El Paso: Cross-border trade consultants, logistics contractors tied to nearby manufacturing plants, and military contractors around Fort Bliss make this one of the most affordable entry points among Texas’s major metros. Fort Bliss alone contributed $27.9 billion to the Texas economy in 2023 and supported nearly 127,000 direct and indirect jobs, including more than 2,500 contractor positions on base itself. 
• Lubbock: Agriculture and agribusiness consultants, wind energy contractors, and healthcare workers keep Lubbock’s economy moving. Texas Tech’s National Wind Institute anchors the wind energy research and testing work that draws engineering contractors to the area.
• Corpus Christi: Petrochemical and refinery contractors, port and maritime trades, and beach tourism gig work anchor this Gulf Coast economy. The Port of Corpus Christi is the largest crude oil export hub in the country, moving more than 2 million barrels a day, which keeps steady demand for energy and logistics contractors. 
• Rio Grande Valley (McAllen / Brownsville): Cross-border trade, agriculture, and healthcare drive the local economy, with tourism from nearby South Padre Island adding freelance and hospitality work. SpaceX’s Starbase near Brownsville has driven $13 billion in economic impact across South Texas over the past two years and works with more than 350 regional suppliers, a growing source of engineering, construction, and logistics contract work. 

Lifestyle Markets

• Texas Hill Country (Fredericksburg / Kerrville / New Braunfels): Wine-country tourism, wedding and event vendors, and outdoor recreation guides make this a strong market for anyone whose business runs on tourism. The Texas Hill Country AVA is the country’s third-largest wine appellation, 9.6 million acres and more than 100 wineries, and that growth keeps event planners, tour guides, and hospitality contractors busy year-round. 
• Gulf Coast (Galveston / South Padre Island): Charter fishing guides, hospitality workers, short-term rental hosts, and cruise-port logistics contractors all work the coast. Galveston is now the fourth-busiest cruise port in the country, with port officials expecting to climb higher, which means steady demand for dock crews, provisioning contractors, and hospitality gig work even as tourism income stays seasonal. A 24-month bank statement window is built to smooth out exactly that kind of gap.

Texas-Specific Bank Statement Loan Considerations

Texas’s tax structure, insurance market, and housing rules all cut differently than other states. Here’s what to know as a self-employed buyer or investor using a bank statement loan in Texas:

• No state income tax: Texas doesn’t withhold state income tax, so more of what you earn lands directly in the account your lender reviews. Your bank statements show a fuller picture of your real income than they would in a high-income-tax state.
• Property tax makes up the difference: Texas’s average effective property tax rate runs 1.40%, the seventh-highest in the country. Budget for it in your monthly payment, not just your down payment.
• Insurance costs vary sharply by region: Texas premiums are driven by hail and hurricane exposure, so what you pay depends heavily on where you buy: the same coverage costs far more in Galveston or the North Texas hail belt than it does in El Paso or Lubbock. Get a quote before you commit to a purchase price.
• Rent control is effectively off the table: Texas law blocks cities from enacting rent control except during a state-declared disaster with the governor’s approval. If your first home comes with a rental unit, a local rent cap isn’t something you’ll need to plan around.
• Security deposits have no state cap: Landlords can charge whatever deposit they want, but must return it within 30 days of move-out. Worth knowing if you’re buying a property with a tenant already in place.
• ADU rules depend on the city: There is no statewide right to build one. Austin, Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio allow ADUs or additional units in some cases, but zoning and lot requirements vary. In San Antonio, the owner generally must live in the main home or ADU. Verify local zoning, permits, occupancy rules, and deed restrictions before relying on ADU rental income.

Free Tools for Self-Employed Borrowers in Texas

Run the numbers before you commit. These free tools give you an instant read on your buying power and the Texas market.

• Bank Statement Loan Calculator: Quickly estimate how much home you could afford with a Texas bank statement loan.
• Bank Statement Loan Refinance Calculator: See how much you could save with a bank statement refinance loan in Texas.
• Home Affordability Calculator: Get a better idea of how much home you may be able to afford based on your financial profile and mortgage details.
• Housing Market Insights: Explore estimated values, transaction history, and appreciation trends for properties across the state of Texas.

Apply for a Bank Statement Home Loan in Texas

Self-employed mortgages in Texas give freelancers, contractors, and business owners a real path to their first home, even when their income doesn’t fit on a W-2. With a bank statement home loan in Texas, you can qualify for up to $4.5 million in financing. No tax returns, no pay stubs required. Down payments start at 10% for qualified borrowers.

Griffin Funding has helped self-employed borrowers, small business owners, freelancers, and independent contractors qualify for bank statement mortgage loans in Texas, whether you’re buying in Fort Worth, Austin, El Paso, or the Rio Grande Valley.

Reach out today to learn more about how to qualify for a mortgage in Texas if you’re self-employed. If you’re ready to get pre-approved and lock in your rate, get started online right away.

• Kristi Manion, Griffin Funding Texas Loan Officer | NMLS# 1314037
• Jack Iwamoto, Griffin Funding Texas Loan Officer | NMLS# 2634018
• Joshua Miller, Griffin Funding Texas Loan Officer | NMLS# 1640013
• Guy Troxler, Griffin Funding Texas Loan Officer | NMLS# 1642169