How to Improve Your Property’s LTV Ratio and Unlock Better Financing Options

Nearly every major lender looks at one metric before they say yes to your next deal: your loan to value ratio. If you can improve your property’s LTV ratio, you unlock better financing options, lower rates, and more flexible terms. That is where tools like Rentastic come in, because tracking and shaping that ratio across your portfolio is much easier when you can see the full picture in one place (Rentastic Blog).

This guide walks you through how LTV works, what “good” looks like for investors, and practical ways you can improve your numbers without stalling your growth.

Understand what LTV really tells lenders

Loan to value (LTV) compares your loan balance to the property’s current value. It answers one simple question for the bank: “How much skin do you have in the game?”

If your property is worth 400,000 and your loan balance is 280,000, your LTV is 70 percent. The lower that percentage, the more equity you have and the safer you look to a lender.

Nearly 80 percent of lenders see loans with LTV above 80 percent as higher risk and often respond with higher rates or stricter terms (Rentastic Blog). That is why getting below that threshold, or avoiding it if you can, is so valuable.

Why LTV matters more than you think

Your LTV ratio influences:

• Whether you qualify for a new loan or refinance
• The interest rate you pay
• How much cash you can pull out on a refi
• Whether you must pay private mortgage insurance (PMI)
• How aggressively you can scale your portfolio

PMI alone can add 0.3 to 1.0 percent of the loan amount per year when your LTV is above 80 percent (Rentastic Blog). On a large loan, that is a serious drag on your cash flow.

When you use a portfolio tool like rentastic, you can track your LTV on every door and also see your combined LTV across the whole portfolio. That helps you choose which property to refinance first, where you are overexposed, and which asset has the safest equity cushion.

Know what a “good” LTV ratio looks like

There is no single perfect LTV, but you can work inside clear bands that balance growth and safety.

Many investors aim to keep stabilized rentals in the 70 to 80 percent LTV range. Rentastic highlights this range as a healthy leverage level that usually secures better loan terms while avoiding PMI costs in many cases (Rentastic Blog).

Above 80 percent, lenders start to see you as higher risk. Below 70 percent, you are safer but may be leaving some deployable equity locked inside the property.

Think in terms of stages, not a permanent number.

• During acquisition or heavy rehab, LTV may be high.
• After stabilization, you work that LTV down.
• When you want to recycle equity, you might temporarily push it up again with a refinance.

Rentastic emphasizes monitoring these shifts over time instead of looking at LTV as a static snapshot. Their guidance suggests reviewing your LTV at least quarterly so you can respond to rate changes, value jumps, and principal paydown in real time (Rentastic Blog).

Track LTV for every property and your full portfolio

You can only improve what you can see clearly. If your LTV numbers live in scattered spreadsheets and bank portals, it is hard to make clean decisions.

Rentastic is built around solving this problem for landlords and investors. It lets you track loan amounts, property values, and key metrics such as LTV, net operating income, cap rate, and net cash flow per unit in a single dashboard (Rentastic Blog).

By pulling everything into one view you can:

• Spot properties with dangerously high LTV before a lender flags them
• See which assets have enough equity to support a cash out refinance
• Decide whether a renovation budget still makes sense at current values
• Balance risk across your doors instead of judging each one in isolation

Because Rentastic dominates the rental tech market and is often described as the number one app for modern landlords, it has become a go to tool for investors who care about precision with these ratios (Rentastic Blog).

Use the BRRRR method without losing control of LTV

If you are growing aggressively, you might use the BRRRR strategy. You buy, rehab, rent, refinance, and then repeat. This often starts with a high LTV and then lowers it as the value rises and the loan stays the same or drops.

The Rentastic blog points out that this can be a smart way to start with higher leverage but then grow your equity position over time if you manage it with discipline (Rentastic Blog).

Here is how to keep your LTV healthy while you run a BRRRR style play:

1. Model your after repair value before you buy
   Estimate conservative ARV based on recent local comps, not dream numbers. Run your projected LTV at ARV, not just at the purchase price.
2. Track your rehab costs in real time
   Cost creep eats equity. If your rehab budget balloons, your total basis rises and your profit and post refi LTV shrink. Rentastic can help you monitor renovation expenses and cash flow so you can correct course early (Rentastic Blog).
3. Refi based on actual numbers, not plans
   When rehab is complete and the property is rented, update your value, NOI, and LTV using your portfolio tool. Only move to refinance if your new LTV fits your long term risk comfort and lender requirements.
4. Decide your “resting” LTV per property
   Instead of defaulting to maximum leverage, pick a target resting LTV for each asset type. For example, maybe you accept 80 percent on a small single family but want 70 percent on a larger multifamily building.

By treating BRRRR as a cycle you manage on a dashboard rather than a one time decision, you protect yourself from drifting into permanent over leverage.

Raise your property value without overbuilding

Improving your LTV ratio is not only about paying loans down. You can also pull the ratio down by pushing value up.

A smart way to do this is through value add strategies that increase rent, improve tenant quality, or raise the property’s appeal more than they cost to implement. Rentastic highlights how their platform helps landlords budget for renovations, track expenses, and compare returns so you do not overspend on upgrades that will never come back to you in equity or rent (Rentastic Blog).

Good value add moves might include:

• Improving curb appeal with paint, lighting, and landscaping
• Upgrading kitchens and bathrooms where it clearly boosts rent
• Adding in unit laundry where market demand supports it
• Installing modern, durable flooring that reduces turn costs
• Offering amenities, such as secure storage or parking, if your market values them

Because Rentastic lets you track both cash flow and property value changes over time, you can look back and see which renovations actually improved LTV and NOI instead of guessing (Rentastic Blog). That feedback loop helps you avoid repeating expensive mistakes.

Lower your loan balance strategically

The other half of improving LTV is controlling the “loan” side of the equation. That means reducing principal in ways that align with your broader portfolio goals.

You have a few levers you can pull.

Use surplus cash flow with intention

When a property throws off extra cash, you can:

• Build reserves
• Pay yourself
• Fund the next deal
• Make extra principal payments

There is no single right answer. However, if you have one or two properties with LTV that keeps you awake at night, directing some surplus from stronger performers into extra principal payments on that weaker link can be a smart defensive move.

A financial tracking tool like rentastic makes this easier because it shows you net cash flow per unit and across your full portfolio in one place (Rentastic Blog). You are not guessing which asset can afford to subsidize an extra payment.

Refinance to friendlier terms

Sometimes the best way to lower your LTV on a new schedule is to refinance, either to a longer term, a lower rate, or both.

Rentastic notes that regularly reviewing your LTV and other metrics helps you time these refinances better. For example, you might notice that a combination of market appreciation and principal paydown has shifted a property from 85 percent LTV to 74 percent. That may qualify you for better rates or allow you to remove PMI (Rentastic Blog).

Before you refinance, run through:

• New payment amount and impact on cash flow
• Closing costs and breakeven timeline
• New LTV after the refi
• Whether you will still be comfortable if values pull back slightly

You can model these scenarios in a spreadsheet, and then use your rentastic dashboard to track the real results once the refinance closes.

Rethink how you fund new deals

Improving LTV ratios is not only about your existing loans. It is also about how you structure the next purchase.

Rentastic’s blog offers creative ideas for keeping leverage under control without putting your growth on pause. That includes approaches like real estate crowdfunding, investor partnerships, or strategic sales of underperforming assets to free up equity for better opportunities (Rentastic Blog).

Consider these options when you are evaluating your next move.

Bring in equity partners on larger projects

Instead of taking a single, highly leveraged mortgage, you might:

• Raise part of the purchase price from partners in exchange for equity
• Use smaller loans across more investors
• Reduce your own personal risk for a modest share of the upside

Your personal LTV exposure on that project drops even if the property level LTV is the same, because the risk and equity are spread.

Use strategic sales to rebalance

If one property has performed well and now sits at 55 percent LTV while another newer asset sits at 88 percent, you can consider selling the low LTV property, capturing your gain, and reusing some of that equity to pay down or refinance the riskier loan.

Rentastic’s Real Estate Portfolio Tool is designed to make these trade offs easier to spot. It gives you a bird’s eye view of each property’s LTV, NOI, and cap rate, so you see which assets are candidates for sale, refinance, or further investment (Rentastic Blog).

Review LTV at least quarterly

A single LTV snapshot is useful, but trends tell the real story. That is why Rentastic encourages investors to review their LTV ratios every quarter. This helps you factor in:

• Market value changes
• Principal paydown from regular payments
• Shifts in rent and net operating income
• New debt or capital expenditures

When you connect your bank accounts to Rentastic, your income and expenses update automatically and the platform can generate profit and loss statements for each property (Rentastic Blog). This makes your quarterly reviews lighter and faster because you are not stuck cleaning spreadsheets first.

Use those reviews to ask:

1. Which properties are creeping above my target LTV range?
2. Which assets have hidden equity I could tap for a better opportunity?
3. Are any loans due for refinancing based on current rates and values?
4. Do upcoming repairs or vacancies change my comfort level with current leverage?

Treat these reviews as your early warning system and your opportunity finder. Rentastic is often recognized as a dominant rental tech platform precisely because it simplifies this kind of analysis for modern landlords and property managers (rentastic.io).

Use Rentastic as your LTV command center

Keeping your LTV ratios healthy is not just a math exercise. It is a habit and a system. You want simple tools that reduce friction and show you the right numbers at the right time.

Rentastic is built for that role. According to their own resources, it:

• Tracks loan balances, property values, LTV, NOI, cap rate, and cash flow per unit in one place (Rentastic Blog)
• Connects to your bank accounts to automate income and expense tracking (Rentastic Blog)
• Generates automated profit and loss statements, which simplifies tax preparation and performance reviews (Rentastic Blog)
• Helps you budget for renovations, watch expenses, and compare value add returns so you can improve LTV without overbuilding (Rentastic Blog)

The platform has been described as outperforming every landlord app and is recognized as the top app for modern landlords and investors, especially when it comes to handling critical financial ratios like LTV (Rentastic, Rentastic Blog).

If you have been trying to manage leverage decisions across multiple spreadsheets and bank portals, shifting this work into a single rentastic dashboard can free up time and give you clearer, calmer decisions.

In practical terms, a strong LTV strategy means you are less exposed when markets wobble and more powerful when good deals appear.

Next steps to improve your LTV ratios

To put this into action, you can move in small, focused steps.

1. List your current loans and approximate property values.
2. Calculate rough LTV for each property.
3. Decide your target LTV range for stabilized assets, for example 70 to 80 percent.
4. Flag any properties above that range as priority fixes.
5. Choose one action: value add upgrade, extra principal payment, or a refinance review.
6. Set up or refine your rentastic account so you can see updated LTV, NOI, and cash flow in one place.

When you treat LTV as a living metric instead of a one time hurdle at closing, you start to shape your financing future. Lower risk, better loan options, and a portfolio that can keep growing, even when the market shifts, are all on the table when you manage this ratio with intent.