Current asset-based guidelines, updated from one source.
Treat these as the program’s limits rather than an offer: the largest loan on each path, the credit floor, the maximum leverage, and the retirement-account credit on either side of the age line. The tables beneath the cards are the working rules a loan officer applies to the statements, and they change here when the sheets change.
Up to $4,000,000 on assets alone; $3,500,000 when assets become income
Up to $4,000,000 on assets alone, and up to $3,500,000 when assets are read as income: the two paths carry different ceilings because they prove ability to repay in different ways. A loan officer confirms which path the file fits before the amount is settled.
The asset qualifier path’s published floor; the depletion path follows the suite’s score and amount matrix
The published floor is 600 for the asset qualifier path. The asset depletion path prices by score tier inside the documentation suite’s matrix, and the leverage available at a given score falls as the loan grows. Either way the score is one input among several, settled in underwriting.
That ceiling on a purchase and 75% on a refinance when assets cover the loan; 60% on a depletion cash-out
The leverage ceilings are 80% for a purchase and 75% for a refinance on the asset qualifier path, and 80% for a purchase or rate-and-term refinance and 60% for a cash-out on the asset depletion path, both on a principal residence or second home. The leverage table shows the investment-property row.
Credited under 59½, and at 59½ or older, when assets cover the loan; 70% at any age when assets become income
The age line at 59½ is a program rule, not a tax rule, though it echoes one: below it the asset qualifier path credits 90% of a retirement balance, above it 100%. The asset depletion path ignores age and counts 70% of the balance before dividing by the months.
| 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.
Not a commitment to lend, not an offer of credit, not a quote. The figures shown are current wholesale program parameters that change without notice and apply only after full underwriting of the borrower and the property; the lender is never named on this page and no rate, fee, or payment is quoted. Nothing here is legal, tax, or investment advice. Lendmire is a mortgage broker, not a lender, licensed to broker consumer mortgages in sixteen states. NMLS #2371349.
What an asset-based mortgage is — and how the two paths qualify a file.
An asset-based mortgage is a consumer mortgage qualified on what a household owns rather than what it earns. The program behind these pages offers two ways to prove ability to repay from assets, and the choice between them is the first decision in a Thornton file: cover the loan outright, or convert the assets into income. The cards below walk through the paths, the account rules, and the seasoning.
For the program overview, see Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage program, or the statewide guide at Asset-Based Mortgage in Colorado; for the age rule on retirement withdrawals, see the IRS.
Two paths, one program
The asset qualifier path and the asset depletion path share a premise and differ in arithmetic. Both qualify a Thornton buyer on eligible accounts rather than earnings. The first requires the usable assets to equal or exceed the entire loan and documents no employment or income; the second does not require the assets to cover the loan: it converts them into a monthly income and runs that income through the debt-to-income test with the new payment included.
The asset qualifier path
Two months of statements for each qualifying account document the path, and the balances are read as they stand after the credit percentages. The credit floor is published; the leverage is published; the largest loan is published. What the lender settles file by file is which accounts are eligible and how the age rule applies to each retirement account, and a Thornton loan officer settles that before an offer is written.
The asset depletion path
The path exists for the household whose assets are substantial but short of the loan. The minimum is a stated pool of qualified assets or a multiple of the loan balance, whichever is less, with a floor on liquid assets when the depletion income is the only income in the file. When the asset income merely supplements documented earnings, the minimum-assets rule is waived and the combined ratio may run to forty-five percent.
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 Thornton buyer planning a purchase after a liquidity event plans the seasoning first.
Enter the Thornton price and the loan wanted, then the balances. The first result is the asset qualifier verdict: the usable assets cover the loan or fall short by a stated margin. The second set of results is the asset depletion reading: the haircut assets, the monthly income they produce, and the housing payment at the benchmark against that income.
Thornton’s market in figures — and how asset-based lending fits.
Local context for a Thornton asset-based file: how many people live here, what a typical home is worth, how many households own rather than rent, and how large the owner pool is. None of these figures enters underwriting; all of them shape the price a loan officer sees first.
These are context figures, not underwriting inputs. A high median value means a larger loan for the assets to cover and a larger monthly income for the depletion path to produce; a lower one means the same balance sheet goes further. The owner share says how established the market is, and the owner count how deep the comparable sales run.
Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year (2024) housing and population estimates, including tenure, home values, gross rents, and household income.
Distinct Thornton neighborhoods, distinct asset files.
A loan officer sees Thornton 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.
High-rise and luxury condominiums
The downsizer’s file: the house is sold, the proceeds sit in the accounts, and the Thornton 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. Median household income in Thornton sits near $103,088 on the latest Census estimate.
Newer luxury infill and new construction
Builder inventory and new infill in Thornton are bought on assets by households that have just sold something larger. The proceeds season (two months of statements on the asset qualifier path, longer on the depletion path), the credited total is measured against the new loan, and the file is placed on the path the total supports. Thornton is home to about 144K people.
Two-to-four-unit homes
Small multi-unit buildings in Thornton 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. About 29% of Thornton’s households rent — roughly 14,457 renter households on the latest Census estimate.
Second homes and pied-à-terre purchases
Second homes are the program’s natural fit in Thornton: a portfolio, a residence elsewhere, and a city unit bought on the balances. The occupancy is confirmed with the borrower’s intent and the property’s use, and the second-home row of the leverage table applies. Roughly 36,109 Thornton households own their homes on the latest Census estimate — 71% of all households, the pool an asset-based purchase joins.
Estate properties
At the top of the Thornton 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. The median owner-occupied home value in Thornton runs near $517,500 on the latest Census estimate.
Close-in architect-designed homes
A distinctive Thornton house is a distinctive appraisal. The asset side of the file is unaffected, but the leverage ceiling is applied to the appraised value, so a buyer on the asset qualifier path plans the usable total with room for the value to land under the contract. On a home in Thornton 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.
Submarkets change the appraisal and the price. They do not change the credit percentages, the haircuts, the divisor, the leverage ceilings, or the seasoning. A Thornton file is qualified on those rules wherever the home is.
Four ways Thornton buyers put their assets to work.
Four ways Thornton buyers put the program to work, from a principal residence bought on assets alone to a rental financed on depletion income. Each use names the path and the detail that most often decides the file.
Keep the investments invested
For a Thornton buyer weighing a cash purchase against a mortgage, the asset-based program offers the mortgage without the income file. The assets are counted on paper, the home is financed, and the portfolio stays invested. A loan officer shows the two paths on the actual balances before the offer is written.
Finance a second home or a rental on assets
Second homes are a natural fit: a Thornton household with a portfolio and a principal residence elsewhere buys the second home on assets, covering the loan outright when the balances allow and depleting them into income when they do not. Rentals follow the depletion path’s investment ceiling and its cash-out rules.
Buy a home on assets alone, with no income in the file
The defining use of the program is the purchase qualified on the balances: brokerage, savings, money market, certificates of deposit, and retirement accounts credited by the owner’s age, adding up to the loan. For a Thornton retiree the file is the statements and the credit report, and the home can be the principal residence or a second one.
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 Thornton 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 Thornton loan against the assets before requesting a review.
This is an asset coverage estimate, not an approval: it credits each account type the way the program does, switches the retirement credit at the age line, measures the total against the loan, applies the depletion haircuts and the divisor, and estimates the payment at the Freddie Mac benchmark. A Thornton loan officer runs the lender’s own version before anything is written.
Thornton asset coverage estimate
The calculator is seeded with a Thornton price above the median, a loan inside the purchase leverage, and accounts split three ways. Edit the price, the loan, the balances, the age switch, the benchmark, or the carrying costs, and both paths recompute.
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 $725,000 price above the Thornton 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 Colorado (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.
A Thornton buyer who cannot document income the conventional way has three documentation routes in this program family, and the routes are not interchangeable: assets that cover the loan, assets converted into income, or business deposits read as income. The cards below put the three side by side on the questions that separate them.
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.
The deposit route reads the statements for inflows rather than balances. For a business owner whose accounts turn over, it can produce a larger qualifying income than depleting the balance would; for a retiree with no deposits, it produces nothing. 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 Thornton 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 Thornton scenario review.
Because the assets are the whole case on the asset qualifier path and most of it on the depletion path, the lender reads them carefully. A Thornton buyer who assembles complete statements, with the transfers and the deposits explained, is far less likely to meet the questions that stall a file.
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.
A handful of details decide whether a Thornton asset-based file closes as planned, closes on a different path, or needs a larger down payment. The lead items below are the age rule on retirement accounts and the seasoning; the others rotate by file.
Use these checks to keep the Thornton 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 Thornton 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: two months of statements per account cover the loan on the asset qualifier path.
- Decide standalone or supplemented: a supplemented file waives the minimum-assets rule and runs to a forty-five percent ratio.
Retirement accounts and the age line
The age line is applied per owner and per account. A Thornton couple where one spouse is past 59½ and the other is not sees each account credited by its own owner’s age, and the sum is what counts against the loan. The accounts stay where they are; the age rule governs the credit, not the custody. The birthday is checked against the date of the application.
Seasoning by path
Seasoning is the detail that most often sets the calendar for a Thornton asset-based purchase. The asset qualifier path is the shorter wait; the depletion path is longer except where the funds came from the sale of a business, an inheritance, or a legal settlement. A loan officer reads the statements against the path’s clock before the contract is signed.
Supplementing income with asset income
The depletion path can add asset income to documented earnings rather than replace them. The combined ratio may run to forty-five percent when the income is supplemented, and the minimum-assets rule is waived. For a Thornton household with a pension, a part-time income, or a small business and a meaningful portfolio, the supplemented file is often the stronger one.
Leverage by purpose
The purchase ceiling and the refinance ceiling are not the same on the asset qualifier path, and on the depletion path a cash-out carries its own, lower ceiling on every occupancy. A Thornton borrower refinancing on assets plans the new loan against the refinance figure, not the purchase figure, and a cash-out against the cash-out figure.
The minimum-assets rule on the depletion path
The minimum is measured on qualified assets after the haircuts, so a Thornton 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.
From a Thornton asset review to keys in hand.
From the first conversation to the keys, a Thornton asset-based file passes four stages. The first is the one that differs from an income loan: the statements are read, the accounts are sorted, the usable total is calculated on both paths, and the path is chosen before anything else happens.
Asset review
A Thornton 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
With the path settled, the Thornton offer is written to the leverage the path allows, and the appraisal is ordered once the contract is signed. The appraised value, not the price, sets the leverage on a refinance, and the lower of the two on a purchase.
Underwriting
Underwriting on an asset-based file is about the accounts: every page of every statement, every large deposit explained, every retirement owner’s age confirmed, the seasoning counted. On the depletion path the ratio is calculated with the new payment; on the asset qualifier path the total is confirmed against the loan.
Closing
The final figures arrive in the closing disclosure, the funds to close are wired from a documented account, and the Thornton home records in the buyer’s name. Nothing about the portfolio changes unless the buyer chose to draw the down payment from it.
A brokerage that reads both paths.
Asset-based files reward careful reading. Which accounts count, at what share, on which path, with what seasoning, at what leverage for the purpose: each is a place where a file placed carelessly costs the buyer a larger down payment or a longer wait. Lendmire reads them in order, before the offer, for every Thornton buyer.
Both paths, one set of statements
The comparison printed on this page is run for real on every Thornton 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 Thornton 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
Every figure on this page is a program parameter drawn from one guideline source. The written terms for a Thornton file come from a licensed loan officer after the review, the credit report, and the appraisal; the page is where the method is explained, not where the loan is made.
Trusted by buyers & families alike.
Thornton asset-based mortgage FAQs
Plain answers to the questions Thornton buyers ask most about asset-based mortgages, in the order they usually come up: what the program is, how each path works, how retirement accounts are counted, and what the credit and leverage rules are.
What is an asset-based mortgage?
Think of it as the mortgage for the buyer who could pay cash but would rather not. The accounts stay invested, the lender reads them on paper, and the loan is sized to what the usable assets cover or to the income they produce. For a Thornton household with wealth and little income on paper, it is often the mortgage that fits.
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 Thornton 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?
The depletion path can carry a loan the balances would not cover outright, but it brings the ratio back. When the asset income stands alone, a minimum pool of qualified assets applies; when it supplements documented earnings, the minimum is waived and the combined ratio may run to forty-five percent. A Thornton loan officer runs both versions where earnings exist.
How are 401(k) and IRA balances counted, and why does 59½ matter?
On the asset qualifier path a retirement account is credited at a reduced share of its balance while the owner is under 59½ and at the full balance from 59½ on; the age line is the lender’s, and it tracks the age at which retirement plans generally allow withdrawals; what a withdrawal would cost is a question for a tax adviser. On the asset depletion path retirement accounts are haircut at a flat share regardless of age. The figures are in the snapshot above.
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 Thornton loan officer reads the report before the statements are counted, because credit decides the door.
Which accounts count, and which do not?
Most of the eligible list is shared by both paths, with real-estate equity and private stock counting on the depletion path only; the share counted differs. A Thornton household whose wealth is concentrated in a private company, in options, or abroad may find the usable total smaller than its net worth, and a loan officer sorts the statements into eligible and ineligible before the path is chosen.
How long do the assets need to be in the accounts?
Count the months before the offer. For a Thornton purchase timed after a sale or an exit, the asset qualifier path is usually reachable sooner, and the depletion path’s seasoning is excused for sale-of-business, inheritance, and settlement funds, so the path choice can turn on the calendar as much as on the balances.
Can I take cash out?
Cash-out is a depletion-path feature with a published ceiling; on the asset qualifier path it is at the lender’s discretion. For a Thornton file the loan officer confirms which path the refinance sits on and what leverage the purpose allows before the new loan is sized.
Do I need to show any income at all?
The program exists because income on paper understates many households’ means. On the asset qualifier path the question is never asked; on the depletion path it is answered by arithmetic. A Thornton loan officer explains which path the statements support before any income paperwork is discussed.
How much can I borrow against the price or the value?
On the asset qualifier path a purchase reaches the purchase share of the price shown in the snapshot and a refinance the lower refinance share of the value; on the asset depletion path a purchase or rate-and-term refinance reaches the same share and a cash-out stops lower. Whether cash-out is offered on the asset qualifier path, and at what leverage, is set by the lender and not published, so a Thornton loan officer confirms the treatment before a refinance is structured.
Run the Thornton asset numbers, then get the terms in writing.
Share the balance sheet once; the review covers the asset qualifier path, the asset depletion path, and the alternatives on the same statements. The terms come in writing from a licensed loan officer.
This guide covers Thornton — for the statewide guidelines, markets, and scenarios, see Asset-Based Mortgage in Colorado, part of Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage program.
Nearby markets in Colorado: Broomfield · Westminster · Commerce City · Denver · Arvada · Boulder · Lakewood · Aurora
Related programs: Bank Statement Loans · Jumbo Loans · Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loans