Self Employed Homebuyers

Self-Employed Homebuyers in Columbus — Why It’s Hard & How We Win Anyway

Self-employed in Columbus? Write-offs help at tax time — they hurt at mortgage time. Here’s how we helped one entrepreneur jump from $220K to $350K in buying power.

Tom Lade

30 Oct 2025 — 2 min read

Being self-employed in Columbus is a flex — until you try to get a mortgage.

Central Ohio has one of the fastest-growing entrepreneur scenes in the Midwest. According to the U.S. Census and Ohio labor data, more than 63,000 residents in the Columbus metro are self-employed, and the number has climbed ~9% in the past three years as remote work and small business ownership exploded across Powell, Dublin, and New Albany.

But here’s the reality no one on motivational-entrepreneur Instagram tells you:

The tax strategy that saves you money can also crush your pre-approval.

Write-offs help at tax time.
They hurt when lenders review your income.

If you’re self-employed here in Columbus, this probably sounds familiar:

You make great money (but your tax return says otherwise)
You reinvest aggressively in the business
Your income swings by season or year
Traditional lenders don’t know how to read your books
Your CPA is a hero at taxes — but not loan qualifying

And because Central Ohio home prices aren’t sitting still —
Median Columbus price: ~$342K, up ~4.6% YoY — you need every dollar of purchasing power you can get.

Now here’s where I love this part of my job:

Real Client Example

A business owner in Columbus came to me recently:

Their bank approved them for $220,000
Great credit, strong cash flow, real business — just tax-efficient income reporting

By understanding their deposits, business structure, and true cash flow — and using a program built specifically for business owners —
we increased their buying power to $350,000.

That extra $130,000-$200,000 in buying power?

It meant:

✅ A better location
✅ A newer home
✅ Room to grow
✅ No settling because underwriting didn’t get entrepreneurship

We’ll talk programs later — because the product isn’t the star.
The strategy is.
And self-employed buyers in Columbus deserve one.

If you own a business in Central Ohio and the numbers on paper aren’t telling your real story, don’t stress — just work with someone who knows how to read the page.