About Investor Loans Pennsylvania
We are the investor-lending arm of Mike Certo's team at Cornerstone First Mortgage: a direct lender, licensed in all 50 states, with 23 years of residential lending behind the desk.
Who we are
Investor Loans Pennsylvania is run by Mike Certo, Branch Manager at Cornerstone First Mortgage (NMLS #173855), and the team around him. Mike has originated residential mortgages for 23 years, through two rate cycles, one housing crash, and every flavor of investor market in between. He holds NMLS #260555, and Cornerstone lends as a direct lender in all 50 states and DC.
Pennsylvania rewards a lender who does the homework, and punishes one who does not. A Pennsylvania deal turns on things most loan officers never touch: whether the parcel sits in a county with a 1.00 common level ratio factor or a 17.86 one, whether the school district files newcomer appeals, whether the Pittsburgh rental permit is provisional or non-provisional, whether the lease contains the §250.501(e) waiver. Those are not trivia. They are the difference between a file that closes at 1.10 and a file that closes at 0.96 and surprises you in year two. We work those questions all week.
How we work
- We quote the parcel, not the state. Pennsylvania is the only state we lend in where two identical houses one county apart carry different assessed values, so a quote that starts from a percentage of purchase price is guesswork. We pull the assessment and the county, municipal and school district millage first.
- We tell you about the lease clause. Every Pennsylvania borrower hears about 68 P.S. §250.501(e) at the first conversation, because a lease that shortens or waives the notice to quit shortens your vacancy after a default, and most out-of-state buyers have never heard of it.
- Verified facts, dated. Every figure on this site traces to a primary source and carries its verification date, from the Department of Revenue's common level ratio table to Pittsburgh's Chapter 781 penalty to Philadelphia Municipal Court's own filing requirements. Where a municipality blocks us from reading its ordinance directly, we say so on the page instead of rounding to a comfortable answer.
- Corrections over comfort. When the internet is wrong about Pennsylvania, we say so plainly. The Pittsburgh rental permit is not voluntary, and we publish that because an investor budgeting on the wrong assumption pays $500 per unit to find out.
- We model the second tax bill. On any Pennsylvania purchase well above a stale base-year assessment, we run the ratio again at a post-appeal figure, because the county, the school district and the local taxing authority can each file on your property and the bill that matters is next year's.
- Direct lender. Underwriting, docs and funding under one roof.
What we lend
DSCR purchases and refinances, investor cash-out, short-term-rental financing, bank statement loans for the self-employed, foreign-national programs, and conventional investor loans, across all of Pennsylvania. Start with the programs page, the DSCR guide, or just send us the deal.
Mike Certo · NMLS #260555 · Cornerstone First Mortgage NMLS #173855 · Equal Housing Lender. Educational content, not a loan commitment and not legal or tax advice. County assessment practice, school district millage, city rental-permit rules, and short-term-rental ordinances change; confirm current requirements with the county assessment office, your CPA, or a Pennsylvania real estate attorney before you buy. Loans are subject to buyer and property qualification.