About Investor Loans Kentucky
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 Kentucky 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.
Kentucky is a state where the loan is the easy part. A Kentucky deal turns on questions most loan officers never ask: did this city adopt KRS 383.505 to 383.705, does the seven-day nonpayment notice reach this property, is the security deposit sitting in an account that satisfies KRS §383.580, does the Louisville parcel fall inside somebody else's 600-foot short-term-rental buffer. Those are not trivia. They are the difference between a portfolio that runs smoothly and one that loses a deposit dispute it should have won. We work those questions all week.
How we work
- Real numbers, no salesy script. We pull the county PVA assessment and the actual local levies, run the real PITIA against realistic rent, and tell you when a deal does not pencil.
- We will talk you out of the wrong market. Bowling Green is Kentucky's fastest-growing metro and a 5.3% gross yield. Both are true, and you should hear the second one from us before underwriting.
- Verified facts, dated. Every figure on this site traces to a primary source and carries its verification date: the statutory text of KRS §383.500, §383.660 and §383.580, the Department of Revenue's state rate, Louisville Metro's own published buffer dataset.
- We publish what we could not verify. Kentucky maintains no official list of jurisdictions that adopted the landlord-tenant act, and Louisville Metro blocks automated retrieval of its code. We say so on the page instead of printing a number we could not read at the source.
- 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 Kentucky. 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. Whether your city or county has adopted the Uniform Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, local short-term-rental rules, and county assessment practice all change; confirm with the city clerk, the county Property Valuation Administrator, your CPA, or a Kentucky real estate attorney before you buy. Loans are subject to buyer and property qualification.