Current asset-based guidelines, updated from one source.
Four cards and three tables carry every figure an asset-based file turns on, drawn from one source built on the wholesale program sheets: amount, credit, leverage, and the retirement credit in the cards; the account-by-account credit, the depletion haircuts, and the leverage by occupancy in the tables. The prose around them explains how the figures are used.
Up to $4,000,000 on assets alone; $3,500,000 when assets become income
The largest loan on the asset qualifier path is $4,000,000, provided the usable assets equal or exceed it; the asset depletion path tops out at $3,500,000. Neither figure is a quote, and the lender’s own calculation of the usable assets governs the amount.
The asset qualifier path’s published floor; the depletion path follows the suite’s score and amount matrix
The asset qualifier path publishes a 600 decision-score floor. The asset depletion path follows the score and loan-amount matrix of the documentation suite it belongs to, where the floor rises with the leverage and the amount. The score is read from the credit report at application; it is never promised here.
That ceiling on a purchase and 75% on a refinance when assets cover the loan; 60% on a depletion cash-out
On the asset qualifier path a purchase reaches 80% of the price and a refinance 75% of the value, on a principal residence or a second home. On the asset depletion path a purchase or rate-and-term refinance reaches the same 80% on those occupancies, and a cash-out refinance stops at 60%.
Credited under 59½, and at 59½ or older, when assets cover the loan; 70% at any age when assets become income
Retirement accounts are the figure that moves most with the borrower. On the asset qualifier path a 401(k) or IRA counts at 90% of its balance while the owner is under 59½ and at 100% from 59½ on. On the asset depletion path retirement balances count at 70% of the balance at any age.
| Account type | Credit toward the loan |
|---|---|
| Brokerage accounts (stocks, bonds, funds) | 100% of the balance |
| Certificates of deposit | 100% of the balance |
| Money market accounts | 100% of the balance |
| Savings and checking | 100% of the balance |
| Retirement accounts (401(k), IRA) — owner under 59½ | 90% of the balance |
| Retirement accounts (401(k), IRA) — owner 59½ or older | 100% of the balance |
| Account type | Share counted |
|---|---|
| Cash accounts | 100% of the balance |
| Certificates of deposit | 100% of the balance |
| Securities (stocks, bonds, funds) | 80% of the balance |
| Private stock | 75% of the balance |
| Retirement accounts (any age) | 70% of the balance |
| Real-estate equity | 60% of the balance |
| Path and occupancy | Purchase | Rate-and-term | Cash-out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Asset qualifier — primary residence or second home | 80% | 75% | set by the lender |
| Asset depletion — primary residence | 80% | 80% | 60% |
| Asset depletion — second home | 80% | 80% | 60% |
| Asset depletion — investment property | 65% | 65% | 60% |
Two paths behind these pages: on the asset qualifier path the usable assets must equal or exceed the whole loan and no employment or income is documented; on the asset depletion path the usable assets are divided across the published number of months (the table above) into a qualifying income that carries the housing payment and other debts through the debt-to-income test. Reserves are not required on the qualifier path at or below the refinance leverage; the depletion path asks for statements at least one hundred twenty days old plus a current one. Minimum assets on the depletion path: the lesser of one million dollars or one and a quarter times the loan, never below a quarter million liquid when assets are the only income. Lendmire is a broker, not the lender, and the lender is not named.
Current asset-based snapshot · updated October 21, 2026 · a Lendmire loan officer confirms the path, the asset credit, and the leverage for the file before an offer.
Informational only; not a commitment to lend, an approval, or a quote. Every figure on this page is a program parameter read from Lendmire’s guideline source, built on wholesale program sheets, and may change without notice; eligibility, the path, the leverage, and the amount are decided in underwriting. Nothing here is tax or investment advice, and the assets described are never required to be sold or moved by this page. Lendmire is a mortgage broker, not a lender. Licensed in sixteen states for consumer mortgages. NMLS #2371349.
What an asset-based mortgage is — and how the two paths qualify a file.
The program’s distinguishing rule is how much of an account it counts, and that it will count retirement money on the path that documents no income at all. For a Santa Rosa household living on a portfolio, the practical questions are which path fits, how each account type is credited, and how long the money needs to have been in place. The four cards answer them in order.
For the program overview, see Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage program, or the statewide guide at Asset-Based Mortgage in California; for the age rule on retirement withdrawals, see the IRS.
Two paths, one program
A Santa Rosa loan officer reads the statements against both paths before recommending one. Covering the loan outright keeps income out of the file and keeps the reserve requirement off at the refinance leverage, but it needs assets equal to the loan. Depleting the assets into income does not need the balances to cover the loan, opens investment property and cash-out at their own ceilings, and brings the ratio test back. The recommendation follows the balances.
The asset qualifier path
No employment and no income is documented on this path. That is not a loophole; it is the structure. The lender’s ability-to-repay review rests on the assets themselves, which is why they must cover the whole loan rather than a share of it. A Santa Rosa retiree whose statements add up to the loan amount is read on those statements, without a tax return, a pay stub, or a bank statement income calculation.
The asset depletion path
On this path the eligible balances are reduced by account type, the total is spread over the divisor, and the monthly figure is read as income against the housing payment and other debts. Seasoning is longer here than on the asset qualifier path: statements at least four months old at application plus a current one, unless the money came from the sale of a business, an inheritance, or a legal settlement. A Santa Rosa loan officer sorts the eligible accounts from the ineligible ones at the start.
Seasoning, statements, and what counts
Seasoning means how long the money has been where the statements say it is. On the asset qualifier path, two months of statements for each qualifying account is the rule. On the asset depletion path the lender wants statements at least four months old plus the most recent one, with the sale of a business, an inheritance, or a legal settlement excused from the wait. A Santa Rosa buyer planning a purchase after a liquidity event plans the seasoning first.
Every input below is yours: the Santa Rosa price, the loan, the balances by account type, the owner’s age against the age line, the benchmark, and the carrying costs. The calculator credits the accounts the way the asset qualifier path does, converts them the way the asset depletion path does, and shows the loan against each, with a thirty-year payment at the benchmark for context.
Santa Rosa’s market in figures — and how asset-based lending fits.
An asset-based mortgage is written against the top of a local market, and these are Santa Rosa’s numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau: the population, the median home value, the share of households that own, and the owner households the program is sized against. Program figures live in the snapshot above; the figures here describe the market, not the file.
Market context only. Read the value figure against the leverage ceiling: the asset qualifier path finances a share of the price and the assets must cover the loan, so a higher median moves the asset threshold up with it. The ownership figures describe the market an appraiser values the home within.
Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year (2024) housing and population estimates, including tenure, home values, gross rents, and household income.
Distinct Santa Rosa neighborhoods, distinct asset files.
A loan officer sees Santa Rosa as a set of distinct files, not one market. Below are the submarkets where asset-based loans are written most often, with the path, the occupancy, and the appraisal question each one usually raises.
Close-in architect-designed homes
The architect-designed homes on Santa Rosa’s close-in streets are hard to value, and on an asset-based file the appraisal decides the leverage: the loan is measured against the lower of price and value. A buyer covering the loan on assets answers a low appraisal with a larger down payment, which lowers the loan the assets must cover. On a home in Santa Rosa priced at or above the median, the asset qualifier path finances up to 80% of the price on a purchase — the balance of the price is the down payment, and the usable assets must cover the loan itself.
Estate properties
At the top of the Santa Rosa market the question is rarely whether the household can afford the home; it is how the lender documents that it can. The asset qualifier path answers with statements; the depletion path answers with a derived income; a loan officer shows both before the offer. About 43% of Santa Rosa’s households rent — roughly 29,562 renter households on the latest Census estimate.
Second homes and pied-à-terre purchases
A Santa Rosa pied-à-terre bought by a household whose principal residence is elsewhere is a second-home file at the second-home leverage on either path. The asset qualifier path covers the loan with the statements; the depletion path converts them. Neither asks about the income that supports the other home. Santa Rosa is home to about 177K people and sits within the Santa Rosa-Petaluma, CA area.
High-rise and luxury condominiums
The downsizer’s file: the house is sold, the proceeds sit in the accounts, and the Santa Rosa condominium is bought on the statements. Two months of statements season the proceeds on the asset qualifier path; the project review and the appraisal are the building’s questions, not the borrower’s. The median owner-occupied home value in Santa Rosa runs near $713,900 on the latest Census estimate.
Newer luxury infill and new construction
A newer Santa Rosa home at the top of the market rarely draws condition notes; the question is whether the balance sheet covers a loan that size or converts into an income that carries it. The loan officer reads the statements against the program ceiling before the contract. Median household income in Santa Rosa sits near $99,060 on the latest Census estimate.
Two-to-four-unit homes
Small multi-unit buildings in Santa Rosa attract the asset-rich buyer who wants rental income beside the portfolio. Financed as an investment, the file is a depletion file: haircut assets divided into income, the investment leverage row, and a stronger score for a first-time investor. Roughly 38,759 Santa Rosa households own their homes on the latest Census estimate — 57% of all households, the pool an asset-based purchase joins.
Whichever Santa Rosa neighborhood the home sits in, the asset-based questions are the same: which accounts count, at what share, whether the total covers the loan, and if not, what income the depletion path produces. The cards are context; the snapshot is the rule.
Four ways Santa Rosa buyers put their assets to work.
The uses below are the ones Santa Rosa loan officers see most: the retiree buying on a portfolio, the seller of a business buying before the next venture, the household keeping the investments invested, the second home bought on assets. Each is a different file on the same two paths.
Buy after a liquidity event, before the next venture
After a sale, the question is documentation rather than qualification. The Santa Rosa loan officer traces the proceeds with the sale paperwork, confirms the accounts they landed in, counts the statements, and chooses the path the total supports. Cash-out proceeds from a refinance never count as assets on either path.
Refinance a home the assets already stand behind
A Santa Rosa owner with a mortgage written on income that no longer exists on paper refinances on the asset qualifier path when the usable assets cover the new loan. The refinance leverage sits below the purchase leverage; whether cash can be taken out on this path, and at what leverage, is set by the lender and is not published.
Buy a home on assets alone, with no income in the file
A Santa Rosa buyer whose usable assets equal or exceed the loan buys a principal residence or a second home on the asset qualifier path: no employment verified, no tax returns, no income calculation. The down payment is at least the share of the price above the leverage ceiling, the statements cover two months, and the credit score sits at or above the published floor.
Turn a portfolio into qualifying income
When the balances will not cover the loan, the depletion path turns them into a monthly figure instead. For a Santa Rosa buyer that means a longer seasoning, haircuts by account type, retirement balances counted at a flat share regardless of age, and a file that is read like any income file once the income is derived.
Measure a Santa Rosa loan against the assets before requesting a review.
The starting figures are a Santa Rosa price above the median, a loan at a share of the price inside both paths’ purchase leverage, and a balance sheet split among cash, brokerage, and retirement accounts with the owner under 59½. Change any of them. The verdict, the margin, the depletion income, and the payment update as you type.
Santa Rosa asset coverage estimate
The starting figures are a Santa Rosa price in the upper part of the market with a loan at seventy percent of it and a balance sheet that covers the loan at the under-59½ retirement credit. Every field is editable, and the benchmark updates weekly from the Freddie Mac series.
Editable benchmark: 7.40% as of October 15, 2026 · Freddie Mac 30-year average via FRED®. A conventional market reference, not an asset-based mortgage quote.
Illustrative starting assumptions: a $1,000,000 price above the Santa Rosa median, a loan at seventy percent of the price, a balance sheet split among cash, brokerage, and retirement accounts with the owner under 59½, a thirty-year payment at the current Freddie Mac conforming benchmark, property taxes and insurance estimated for California (U.S. Census Bureau). Every field is editable.
Illustrative estimate only — not a Loan Estimate, approval, quote, or commitment to lend. The credit percentages, the haircuts, and the divisor are wholesale program parameters hydrated from Lendmire’s guideline endpoint; the lender’s own calculation governs, and which accounts count, how they season, and what the age rule allows are settled in underwriting. The rate field carries the weekly Freddie Mac thirty-year conforming benchmark, a market reference and not an asset-based mortgage quote; the terms on an asset-based mortgage are set by the lender at lock. Taxes and insurance are estimates. Nothing here is tax or investment advice.
Same buyer, three ways to document the file.
For a Santa Rosa buyer with assets and an unconventional income picture, the comparison is between covering the loan, depleting the assets, and documenting deposits. The rows set out the strengths of each, and the last row says where each one fits.
Assets that cover the loan, assets as income, or deposits as income.
When the credited balances reach the loan, nothing else about income needs to be shown. The trade is the threshold: the assets must cover the loan itself, not a share of it, and investment property is not on this path. Reserves are not required at or below the refinance leverage, and the file is the statements, the credit report, and the appraisal.
The path for the household whose savings are real but smaller than the loan. It can carry a loan the balances would not cover outright, widens the occupancies to include rentals, and adds a cash-out ceiling; in exchange it brings the ratio back and counts retirement money at a flat haircut.
Business or personal deposits over a run of statements, read as income with an expense factor, for the self-employed owner whose tax returns understate the business. Balances are not the point; cash flow is. Leverage and reserves follow that program’s own matrix. See Lendmire’s bank statement loan program.
Assets that cover the loan, assets that become income, deposits that become income: three answers to one question, and the right one for a Santa Rosa household is read off its statements. The comparison on this page is run for real on every file before the lender’s terms are put in writing. Loans above the conforming limit on documented income: Lendmire’s jumbo loan program.
What to prepare for a Santa Rosa scenario review.
An asset-based file is documented through statements rather than pay stubs, so the preparation is account-centered: every eligible account, every page of every statement for the required months, and the paperwork behind any large or recent deposit. The list below is the usual Santa Rosa set.
This is a general preparation guide, not a universal checklist. The selected lender may request additional information based on the transaction, the property, the path, the accounts, and the credit picture. Nothing here is legal, tax, or investment advice.
Local details that can change the loan.
The figures in the snapshot are the program’s; the details below are where a Santa Rosa file moves. Which side of the age line the owner stands on, how long the money has been in place, which accounts the lender will count, and which path the occupancy allows are settled before the terms are written.
Use these checks to keep the Santa Rosa file clean and fundable.
Before the statements go in: confirm the retirement credit by age, confirm the seasoning by path, and confirm which accounts the lender counts. A Santa Rosa file that clears those three rarely surprises anyone in underwriting.
- Confirm the age rule: the depletion path haircuts retirement balances at a flat share regardless of age.
- Count the months: the depletion path wants a statement at least four months old plus a current one.
- Read the credit report: a prior housing event or repeated bankruptcies limit eligibility.
Retirement accounts and the age line
The owner’s age decides how much of a 401(k) or IRA counts on the asset qualifier path: a reduced share under 59½ and the full balance from 59½ on. For a Santa Rosa file built mostly on retirement money, a birthday can be the difference between covering the loan and falling short, and a loan officer checks the date against the age line before the path is chosen.
Seasoning by path
The lender wants to see that the money has been the borrower’s for a while and is not a loan dressed as an asset. Recent transfers are traced to the account they came from; recent deposits are documented with their source. A Santa Rosa file with a clean trail seasons without friction; one with unexplained deposits waits.
Credit and housing history
The asset qualifier path publishes a credit floor; the depletion path reads the score against a matrix where the floor rises with the leverage and the loan amount, and it reads the housing history too: a clean recent record is expected, one late payment in the past year is tolerated, and a Santa Rosa file with a prior housing event waits out the program’s seasoning.
The minimum-assets rule on the depletion path
The minimum is measured on qualified assets after the haircuts, so a Santa Rosa balance sheet heavy in securities or retirement money counts for less than its face value and can fall short of the minimum. The loan officer checks the minimum first and the ratio second. A file that misses the minimum is often rewritten as a supplemented file when any documented income exists.
Reserves by path
On the asset qualifier path reserves are not required at or below the refinance leverage; above it the lender sets the requirement. On the depletion path the program lists no reserve months for the path itself, though the assets that produce the income are, by nature, in reserve. A Santa Rosa loan officer confirms what, if anything, must be held after closing.
From a Santa Rosa asset review to keys in hand.
The process is short on paperwork about income and long on paperwork about accounts. A Santa Rosa buyer who understands that order, statements first, then contract, then underwriting, then closing, arrives at each step prepared.
Asset review
A Santa Rosa asset review is a sizing exercise with the account rules open: the balances by type, the share credited on each path, the total against the loan, the income against the payment. The loan officer writes the outcome down for the offer. Nothing is assumed; every account is read from its statement.
Contract and appraisal
A Santa Rosa buyer on assets competes like any financed buyer: the contract, the appraisal contingency, and the timeline are the usual ones. What differs is that no employment verification sits in the path on the asset qualifier side, so the file is often quieter than an income file at this stage.
Underwriting
The underwriter reads what the loan officer read: the statements for the required months, the eligibility of each account, the credit shares or the haircuts, the usable total against the loan or the derived income against the payment, the credit report, and the appraisal. A Santa Rosa file that was documented completely at review usually moves through with few new questions.
Closing
Closing on an asset-based loan looks like any other closing from the outside. From the inside, the difference is what did not happen along the way: no employment call, no tax transcript, no income calculation on the asset qualifier path. A Santa Rosa loan officer attends to the funds to close so the usable total is intact.
A brokerage that reads both paths.
A single lender with one asset program sells that program. A brokerage with both paths on the table can say which one a Santa Rosa file supports and why. That is the service: the statements read twice, the usable totals shown side by side, the recommendation following the numbers.
Both paths, one set of statements
The comparison printed on this page is run for real on every Santa Rosa file: assets that cover the loan beside assets that become income beside deposits read as income, and the written terms follow from it. The buyer sees the usable total on each path, the margin above the loan, and the derived income beside the payment before anything is signed.
The account rules explained before the offer
The age rule, the seasoning, and the eligible-account list are the three places an asset-based file surprises people. Lendmire walks a Santa Rosa buyer through all three at the review, with the statements open, so the file that goes to underwriting is the file the buyer expected. The margin above the threshold is written down too.
Licensed, consumer-purpose, in writing
Asset-based mortgages on a principal residence or a second home are consumer loans, placed under Lendmire’s consumer licensing in sixteen states with the disclosures that attach to any consumer mortgage. A Santa Rosa buyer gets the terms in writing from a licensed loan officer, and nothing on this page is an offer or a quote.
Trusted by buyers & families alike.
Santa Rosa asset-based mortgage FAQs
The questions Santa Rosa buyers bring to an asset-based mortgage, answered in order: the two paths, the age rule, the seasoning, the eligible accounts, the leverage, the occupancies, and the comparison with a bank statement loan.
What is an asset-based mortgage?
It is a mortgage where the statements, not the pay stubs, make the case. Two paths run under the program: cover the loan outright with usable assets and document no income, or deplete the assets into a qualifying income and run the usual ratio test. A Santa Rosa buyer is written on whichever path the balances support.
How does the asset qualifier path work?
It is the simplest file in the program, and the one that asks the assets to cover the whole loan. For a Santa Rosa retiree with a portfolio equal to the loan, the file is the statements, the credit report, and the appraisal; the age rule on retirement accounts is the detail most often checked.
How does the asset depletion path work?
Picture the balance sheet spread evenly across a span of months: that monthly slice is the income the lender uses. For a Santa Rosa household, the question is whether that slice, added to any documented income, carries the housing payment and the other debts within the ratio. The calculator on this page shows the slice beside the payment.
How are 401(k) and IRA balances counted, and why does 59½ matter?
The age line is applied per owner and per account. A Santa Rosa couple with accounts on both sides of 59½ sees each credited by its own owner’s age, and the sum counts against the loan. The accounts are not drawn on; the rule governs the credit, not the custody.
What credit score does an asset-based mortgage need?
The published floor opens the asset qualifier path. On the depletion path a first-time investor needs a stronger score than an owner-occupant, and larger loans at higher leverage want more. A Santa Rosa loan officer reads the report before the statements are counted, because credit decides the door.
How large can the loan be?
On the asset qualifier path the loan is bounded twice: by the program ceiling and by the usable assets, whichever is lower. On the depletion path it is bounded by the ceiling and by the ratio the derived income supports. The calculator on this page shows both bounds on a Santa Rosa balance sheet.
Which accounts count, and which do not?
Brokerage accounts, savings and checking, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, and retirement accounts count on both paths. Custodial accounts, deferred compensation, escrow balances, foreign funds, cash on hand, stock options, unvested restricted stock, and funds held at non-regulated companies do not. Real-estate equity and private stock count on the depletion path only.
What sets the timeline on an asset-based mortgage?
On any mortgage the appraisal and the title are the long poles, and an asset-based file adds the account review while removing the income review. A Santa Rosa buyer plans the seasoning ahead of the offer; the program promises no timeline.
I just sold my business. Can I buy on the proceeds?
Yes. The timing question is the seasoning: two months of statements on the path that covers the loan, and an excused wait on the depletion path for sale-of-business funds. A Santa Rosa loan officer reads the calendar with the statements and names the path that is reachable soonest.
How much can I borrow against the price or the value?
On the asset qualifier path a purchase reaches a share of the price and a refinance a lower share of the value, both shown in the snapshot. On the asset depletion path a purchase or rate-and-term refinance on a principal residence or second home reaches the same purchase share, a cash-out stops lower, and investment property, on the depletion path only, has its own lower purchase ceiling and the same cash-out ceiling.
A Santa Rosa mortgage sized to the balance sheet, not the pay stub.
Tell us the price, the loan wanted, and the accounts, and we will show the usable total on each path, the margin above the loan, and the depletion income beside the payment, in writing.
This guide covers Santa Rosa — for the statewide guidelines, markets, and scenarios, see Asset-Based Mortgage in California, part of Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage program.
Nearby markets in California: Petaluma · Sonoma · Napa · Novato · Vallejo · San Rafael · Fairfield · Richmond
Related programs: Bank Statement Loans · Jumbo Loans · Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loans