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
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
90% under the age line, 100% at or past it: that is how a retirement balance is credited when the assets must cover the loan. When the assets are instead converted into income, the same balance counts at 70% whatever the owner’s age. The difference can decide which path fits.
| 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.
This page describes program parameters, not an offer. The amounts, the credit floor, the leverage, the credit shares, the haircuts, and the seasoning are wholesale guidelines, subject to change without notice and to full underwriting; the statements, the credit report, and the appraisal decide every file. The calculator is illustrative and the lender’s own calculation governs. Lendmire is a mortgage broker, not a lender, licensed for consumer mortgages in sixteen states. NMLS #2371349.
What an asset-based mortgage is — and how the two paths qualify a file.
The asset-based program is one program with two doors. Through the first, an Athens buyer walks in with statements that add up to the loan and leaves employment and income out of the file entirely. Through the second, a buyer whose balances do not cover the loan walks in with the same statements and the lender turns them into a monthly figure to test against the payment. The cards below describe each door and the rules at the threshold.
For the program overview, see Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage program, or the statewide guide at Asset-Based Mortgage in Georgia; for the age rule on retirement withdrawals, see the IRS.
Two paths, one program
Think of the two paths as two thresholds. On the asset qualifier path the threshold is the loan amount itself: the credited balances must reach it. On the asset depletion path the threshold is a ratio: the credited balances, divided into monthly income, must carry the housing payment and the other debts. An Athens file with a large balance sheet usually clears the first; a file with a moderate one is often written on the second.
The asset qualifier path
On the asset qualifier path the lender adds up the eligible accounts, credits each at its share, and compares the total with the loan. Brokerage accounts, certificates of deposit, money market accounts, and savings count in full; a 401(k) or IRA counts at a reduced share while the owner is under 59½ and in full from 59½ on. Accounts combine across types, so an Athens buyer with a mixed balance sheet is read on the sum.
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. An Athens buyer planning a purchase after a liquidity event plans the seasoning first.
Two paths, one set of inputs. The calculator shows the largest loan the assets would cover on the asset qualifier path inside the leverage ceiling, and the monthly income the same accounts would produce on the asset depletion path, so an Athens buyer can see which path the balance sheet favors before a loan officer confirms it.
Athens’ market in figures — and how asset-based lending fits.
The U.S. Census Bureau figures below set the scale of the Athens market the program lends into. Values set the loan size the assets must cover or carry; ownership sets how many households are candidates; the population sets the depth of the market the appraiser draws comparable sales from.
These are context figures, not underwriting inputs. 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 Athens neighborhoods, distinct asset files.
No single asset-based file describes Athens. The cards below differ in housing stock, price, occupancy, and the kind of borrower who buys there, and each describes how the program reads a file in that part of the market. The rules do not change with the street; the file does.
Close-in architect-designed homes
A distinctive Athens 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 Athens 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.
Two-to-four-unit homes
An Athens two-to-four-unit home bought to live in one unit is an owner-occupied file and can sit on either path where the lender’s property rules allow; bought as a rental it is an investment occupancy on the depletion path at the investment ceiling. The occupancy is settled first because it decides which path and which leverage apply. Median household income in Athens sits near $52,974 on the latest Census estimate.
High-rise and luxury condominiums
An Athens condominium bought on assets is an asset-based file with the building added. Established projects usually pass review; the account rules are the same as for a house, and the asset qualifier path keeps income out of the file when the usable total covers the loan. Two months of statements season the proceeds. Athens is home to about 127K people and sits within the Athens-Clarke County, GA area.
Newer luxury infill and new construction
A newer Athens 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. Roughly 21,812 Athens households own their homes on the latest Census estimate — 41% of all households, the pool an asset-based purchase joins.
Estate properties
An estate purchase on assets is sized against the program ceiling and the usable total at once. An Athens buyer near the ceiling is read closely on the margin, on which accounts count, and on the age rule for retirement money, because a small change in the credited total moves a large loan. About 59% of Athens’ households rent — roughly 31,831 renter households on the latest Census estimate.
Second homes and pied-à-terre purchases
An Athens 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. The median owner-occupied home value in Athens runs near $299,200 on the latest Census estimate.
The rules do not change with the street. Every Athens file is checked the same way: eligible accounts, credit share or haircut, usable total against the loan or divided into income, leverage against the ceiling for the purpose and occupancy, seasoning, and credit. The submarket shapes the price and the appraisal, nothing more.
Four ways Athens buyers put their assets to work.
What an Athens buyer does with an asset-based mortgage depends on the balance sheet and the occupancy. The four uses below cover the typical purchases and refinances, with the path, the leverage, and the account rules that apply to each.
Buy after a liquidity event, before the next venture
The seller of an Athens business, the founder after an exit, the household after an inheritance: the money is new, large, and often unaccompanied by income. The asset qualifier path reads it once the two months of statements exist; the depletion path excuses the usual seasoning for sale-of-business, inheritance, and legal-settlement funds.
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 an Athens 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.
Finance a second home or a rental on assets
For a rental, the asset depletion path is the only path open, at the investment-property leverage, with cash-out at the depletion path’s cash-out ceiling. For a second home, both paths are open. An Athens loan officer sorts the occupancy first, because it decides the path before the balances are even read.
Keep the investments invested
Borrowing against the strength of a balance sheet rather than spending it is the program’s quiet use. The Athens buyer keeps the brokerage account, the retirement accounts, and the savings in place; the lender reads the statements and writes the loan. Which path fits depends on whether the credited total reaches the loan and on the occupancy, since a rental is a depletion file.
Measure an Athens loan against the assets before requesting a review.
Use the calculator to see which path an Athens balance sheet favors. If the usable assets cover the loan, the asset qualifier path is open and no income enters the file; if they fall short, the depletion reading beside it shows the monthly income the assets would produce and the payment that income would need to carry.
Athens asset coverage estimate
The starting figures are an Athens 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 $500,000 price above the Athens 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 Georgia (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.
An Athens 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 an Athens 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 an Athens 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. An Athens 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 an Athens 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 Athens file clean and fundable.
The checklist for an Athens asset-based file starts with the accounts: the age of each retirement owner, the months of statements, the eligibility of each account type. The path and the leverage follow from the answers.
- Confirm the age rule: the depletion path haircuts retirement balances at a flat share regardless of age.
- Count the months: a sale of a business, an inheritance, or a settlement is excused from the depletion wait.
- Confirm the reserves: reserves are not required on the asset qualifier path at or below the refinance leverage.
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 an Athens 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. An Athens file with a clean trail seasons without friction; one with unexplained deposits waits.
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. An Athens loan officer confirms what, if anything, must be held after closing.
Occupancy decides the path
A second home on assets is common and straightforward on both paths; a rental on assets is a depletion file by definition. The Athens loan officer confirms the occupancy with the borrower’s intent and the property’s use, and the lender holds the file to it. A rental’s own appraisal and lease are read beside the statements.
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 an Athens file with a prior housing event waits out the program’s seasoning.
From an Athens asset review to keys in hand.
An asset-based purchase runs in a fixed order: a review of the statements that settles the path and the leverage, a contract and an appraisal, underwriting of the accounts and the credit, and closing. The steps below describe each for an Athens file.
Asset review
An Athens 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
The contract sets the price the loan is measured against; the appraisal confirms the value supports it. On an Athens file where the assets just cover the loan, an appraisal that lands under the price is answered with a larger down payment, which lowers the loan the assets must cover.
Underwriting
Conditions, when they come, are usually documentary: a missing statement page, a deposit without its source, an account that needs its holdings shown. An Athens buyer who gathered the list on this page meets most of them before they are asked. The underwriter’s questions are the loan officer’s questions asked a second time, on the same statements.
Closing
At closing the down payment and the closing costs are paid, the loan funds, and the accounts that qualified the file stay where they were. The lender reads the balances as they stand after the funds to close are drawn, which is why an Athens file keeps a margin above the threshold.
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 an Athens 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
An Athens file is never assumed onto a path. The balances are read both ways, and when the depletion income would supplement documented earnings that version is run as well. The recommendation is the version with the cleanest file and the leverage that fits the purpose. The loan officer shows the arithmetic, not just the answer.
The account rules explained before the offer
Reading the statements early is the whole method. An Athens loan officer sorts the accounts, confirms the owners’ ages against the age line, counts the months, and names the usable total on each path, in writing, before an offer is drafted. The aim is a file with as little as possible left to be discovered in underwriting.
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. An Athens 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.
Athens asset-based mortgage FAQs
Plain answers to the questions Athens 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?
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. An Athens 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 an Athens 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?
It converts assets into income. Cash and certificates of deposit count in full, securities at a lower share, retirement accounts lower still regardless of age, and real-estate equity lowest; the haircut total is divided by the divisor and treated as monthly income. The path reaches principal residences, second homes, and investment property.
How are 401(k) and IRA balances counted, and why does 59½ matter?
Under 59½, the asset qualifier path credits most of a 401(k) or IRA; at or past 59½, all of it. The depletion path ignores age and applies its own haircut before dividing by the months. The calculator on this page has a switch for the age line so an Athens buyer can see the difference on the actual balances.
What credit score does an asset-based mortgage need?
Assets do not replace credit. An Athens borrower needs the score at or above the floor for the path; the depletion path also reads the housing history, tolerates one late housing payment in the past year at a cost, and does not accept repeated bankruptcies. The score is read from the report at application.
Can I buy a second home or a rental on assets?
Second homes are a natural asset-based file in Athens: the household has a principal residence elsewhere and a portfolio, and the second home is financed on the statements. Rentals are depletion files by definition, underwritten as investment occupancies on the program’s investor rules.
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.
I just sold my business. Can I buy on the proceeds?
A liquidity event produces exactly the balance sheet the program expects: assets well above the loan and earnings that have paused. An Athens seller covers the loan on the asset qualifier path when the proceeds reach it, or converts smaller proceeds into income on the depletion path with the seasoning excused.
How large can the loan be?
The asset qualifier path reaches the larger ceiling, shown in the snapshot, provided the usable assets cover the loan; the asset depletion path runs between its own minimum and maximum, also shown. Both figures are program parameters, subject to the lender’s guidelines at lock.
How long do the assets need to be in the accounts?
Count the months before the offer. For an Athens 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.
An Athens mortgage sized to the balance sheet, not the pay stub.
Begin with an asset review: the statements, the loan, the occupancy, the purpose. A Lendmire loan officer sorts the accounts, runs both paths, and puts the written terms for the one that fits in front of you.
This guide covers Athens — for the statewide guidelines, markets, and scenarios, see Asset-Based Mortgage in Georgia, part of Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage program.
Nearby markets in Georgia: Gainesville · Johns Creek · Stonecrest · Alpharetta · Dunwoody · Brookhaven · Helen · Roswell
Related programs: Bank Statement Loans · Jumbo Loans · Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loans