/GUIDE
Qualifying on a balance is not the same as spending it. That distinction is the whole product.
Two borrowers hit the same wall from opposite directions. A retiree living off a portfolio has substantial assets and no pay stub. An investor with heavy depreciation has real cash flow and a tax return that shows very little. Income-only underwriting reads both as thin files.
Asset-depletion underwriting, sometimes called an asset qualifier, looks at the balance sheet instead.
Eligible liquid assets are totalled, then divided across a defined number of months to produce a monthly figure that gets treated as income for qualifying purposes. That figure goes into the underwrite the way a salary would.
The number of months, and which assets count toward the total, vary by lender and program. There is no single formula across the market.
Generally the liquid ones: brokerage accounts, and retirement accounts subject to conditions around your age and access to them. Lenders commonly apply a discount to volatile holdings rather than counting them at full face value, on the reasoning that a market can move between application and closing.
Illiquid holdings (real estate you own, a stake in a private business), usually don’t go into this calculation, though they may matter elsewhere in the file.
Qualifying on an account balance does not mean liquidating it, drawing from it, or pledging it. The account keeps doing what it was doing. The calculation is a way of expressing existing wealth in the unit underwriting knows how to read.
This is the single most common objection, and it’s worth clearing up early, because it’s often the reason someone assumes the product isn’t for them.
Asset depletion doesn’t have to carry the whole file. Some scenarios combine a modest ongoing income with an asset-based calculation. If you have both, bring both.
You document what actually gets used to qualify, not your entire financial life.
See who it’s for, how it works, and the common questions.
/programs/jumbo-asset-depletionTell me the property and the plan and I’ll come back with what’s eligible. Eligibility and terms vary by scenario.
Send a scenarioEducational only. Not an offer, an approval, or advice on your specific file.
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