The Quick Read: Washington borrowers with large balances and little documented income can be pre-approved on assets through one of two paths: assets that cover the whole loan outright, or assets converted into monthly qualifying income by dividing usable balances by 60 months, both subject to underwriting through select programs. The file is fully underwritten, and the assets are documented with statements. What you skip is traditional personal-income documentation, pay stubs and employment verification.
- Asset qualifier path: eligible assets, after the credit percentages, must equal or exceed the entire loan. No employment or income is documented.
- Asset depletion path: usable assets divided by 60 months become qualifying income, which then runs through the debt-to-income test.
- One path at a time: a borrower is reviewed on one path, never a blend of the two.
- Statements decide the file: seasoning and statement age matter as much as the balance.
- Credit still counts: the qualifier path has a 600 minimum score, and the depletion path follows the lender’s matrix.
What Does Pre-Approval on Assets Actually Mean?
A pre-approval on assets is a lender’s conditional review of your file. It is not a government status. This is not a commitment to lend. The final answer depends on the appraisal, the full underwriting review and the condition of the property.
The difference from a standard letter is the evidence. A paycheck-based file starts with W-2s and traditional personal-income documentation. An asset-based file starts with account statements. The lender looks at what you own, how long it has been there, and what share of it counts.
This works for a specific reader. Think retirees living on a portfolio, people who sold a business, recipients of an inheritance or a settlement, and early-retired professionals. Balances are large. Documented income is small or absent.
Lendmire is a broker. It arranges these loans through select lenders in its wholesale network. The lender reviews the file and makes the credit decision. Lendmire’s consumer mortgage lending is licensed in 16 states, and Washington is one of them. Every figure below is a ceiling or a floor, never an offer, and the lender’s own calculation governs.
Which of the Two Paths Fits You?
Pick the asset qualifier path if your eligible assets are at least as large as the whole loan. Pick asset depletion if your assets are large but smaller than the loan, or if you want them to count as income alongside other debts. You cannot be qualified on both at once.
| Factor | Asset Qualifier | Asset Depletion |
|---|---|---|
| How you qualify | Assets cover the entire loan | Assets become monthly income |
| Income documented | None | Derived from assets, then run through DTI |
| Leverage | Up to 80% purchase, 75% refinance | Up to 80% purchase or rate-and-term, 60% cash-out (residence) |
| Loan amounts | Up to $4,000,000 | $125,000 to $3,500,000 |
| Credit | 600 minimum score | The lender’s matrix |
| Property use | Principal residence or second home | Residence, second home or investment property |
The leverage figures on the qualifier path apply to a principal residence or second home. On the depletion path, an investment property is limited to 65% on a purchase or rate-and-term refinance and 60% on a cash-out. A first-time investor on the depletion path needs a 700 score.
The practical rule of thumb is simple. Add up your eligible assets at the percentages below. If the total clears the loan amount, start with the qualifier path. If not, test the depletion path.
How Does the Asset Qualifier Path Count Your Balances?
The qualifier path counts brokerage accounts, certificates of deposit, money market and savings at 100% of the balance. Retirement accounts count at 90% if you are under 59½ and 100% at 59½ or older. Accounts combine. The total must equal or exceed the entire loan.
Here is the shape of a file, shown for illustration only. Say a borrower seeks an $800,000 loan. They hold $330,000 in brokerage accounts (100% = $330,000), $300,000 in a 401(k) while under 59½ (90% = $270,000) and $200,000 in savings (100% = $200,000). That counts $800,000 of usable assets, which meets the loan amount, so the file is reviewed on assets alone, subject to underwriting.
Leverage here is up to 80% on a purchase and 75% on a refinance. Whether cash-out proceeds are allowed on this path is set by the lender and is not published, so ask before you plan around it.
Reserves are not required at or below 75% loan-to-value. Above that, the lender sets them. No income is documented, so the lender’s ability-to-repay review rests on the assets.
Seasoning is the main friction. The qualifier path wants 60 days of seasoning and two months of statements for each qualifying account. Money that arrived last week is not seasoned.
How Does Asset Depletion Turn Balances into Income?
Asset depletion applies a haircut to each account type, adds up the usable total, and divides by 60 months. The result is a monthly qualifying income. That income must carry the full housing payment and your other debts through the debt-to-income test.
Haircuts on this path:
- Cash accounts and certificates of deposit count at 100%.
- Securities count at 80%.
- Private stock counts at 75%.
- Retirement accounts count at 70% at any age.
- Real-estate equity counts at 60%.
An illustration only. Say a borrower holds $1,500,000 in securities (80% = $1,200,000) and $300,000 in cash (100% = $300,000). That is $1,500,000 usable. Divided by 60 months, it produces $25,000 of monthly qualifying income. That figure then carries the housing payment and other debts through the debt-to-income test.
Some lenders and agency programs use much longer divisors, which produce smaller income figures. Those are their rules, not this program’s. Across the wholesale network, the 60-month divisor on this path is what makes the math workable for a portfolio-heavy borrower.
Minimum assets apply. You need qualified assets of at least the lesser of $1,000,000 or 1.25 times the loan balance. If depletion is your only income source, you also need at least $250,000 liquid. Asset income can also supplement documented income, up to a 45% debt-to-income ratio, and when it supplements, the minimum-assets rule is waived.
Cash-out proceeds never count as qualifying assets on this path.
Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage programs page lists both paths.
Which Assets Count and Which Do Not?
Cash, certificates of deposit, brokerage balances and retirement accounts count on both paths, at the percentages above. Several common holdings do not count on the depletion path at all.
Not eligible on the depletion path:
- custodial accounts
- deferred compensation
- escrow accounts
- foreign funds
- cash on hand
- stock options
- non-vested restricted stock units
- funds from non-regulated financial companies
Cryptocurrency, precious metals, collectibles and pledged or borrowed funds are not published as eligible on either path. Business accounts count only to the extent of your ownership share, and even that is limited. The documented route is to convert these holdings into a seasoned cash balance in a regulated account. The lender then reviews where the money came from.
Plan that conversion early. A sale in the middle of an application creates a large deposit the lender must source.
Steps to Get Pre-Approved in Washington on Assets Instead of Income
The process runs from an asset inventory to a conditional letter you can show a seller. Do the steps in order, because most delays come from skipping the inventory.
1. Inventory every account. List balances, account types, owners and the date each balance first reached its current level.
2. Apply the percentages. Use the qualifier path’s credit percentages and the depletion path’s haircuts separately. Do not mix the two tables.
3. Choose the path. If usable qualifier-path assets cover the whole loan, start there. If not, run the depletion math and check it against the debt-to-income test.
4. Check credit and housing history. The qualifier path wants a 600 minimum. Housing history is 0x30x12, and one 30-day late in the last twelve months is considered case by case. Multiple bankruptcies are not eligible. On the depletion path, a housing event needs 4 years of seasoning.
5. Gather statements. On the qualifier path, you need two months of statements per account and 60 days of seasoning. On the depletion path, you need statements at least 120 days old at application, plus the most recent statement within 45 days.
6. Submit the scenario through a broker. The broker places the file with a select lender whose guidelines fit your assets, property type and leverage.
7. Receive the conditional letter. The letter states the loan amount the lender is willing to review, subject to appraisal, underwriting and property review.
8. Use the letter, then clear conditions. Once you have a property under contract, the lender orders the appraisal and works through its conditions.
Sale-of-business, inheritance and legal-settlement funds are excused from the depletion path’s seasoning rule. Bring the closing statement or the court documents with them.
What Documents Does the File Need?
Assets are documented on both paths. “No income documentation” never means “no documentation.” The file still carries identity, credit, statements and, later, the appraisal and insurance.
What you can skip: traditional personal-income documentation, pay stubs and employment verification. What you cannot skip:
- two months of statements per qualifying account on the qualifier path
- statements 120 days old plus one within 45 days on the depletion path
- identity documents and a credit review
- sourcing for any large deposit
- documents for the property itself once it is under contract
Statement completeness causes most of the friction. Every page of each statement, including the blank-looking ones, should be in the package. A cropped screenshot gives the lender a preventable gap.
Taxes sit outside this file’s mechanics. Tax treatment varies; consult a qualified professional.
Where Does the General Rule Break?
The rule is that assets alone can carry the file. It breaks in five places: retirement accounts, double-counting, investment property, owner occupancy and cash-out use.
Retirement accounts. The same $300,000 counts differently on each path. On the qualifier path it counts at 90% until 59½ and 100% after. On the depletion path it counts at 70% at any age. A borrower near 59½ may want to know which side of that line their application date falls on.
Double-counting. The same dollar cannot do two jobs. Funds you spend on a down payment and closing costs are no longer sitting in the account the lender is counting. Run the math on the balance that remains after those payments, not before.
Investment property. Investment property is available only on the depletion path. Leverage drops to 65% on a purchase or rate-and-term refinance and 60% on a cash-out, and a first-time investor needs a 700 score. For a rental held for income, rental coverage programs such as DSCR may fit better than any asset-based path, because they qualify the property’s income rather than yours. Choose by where your strength is: balances or rent.
Owner occupancy. The business-purpose label is not automatic. Doss Law’s business purpose guide says an owner who expects to occupy a one-to-two unit property for more than 14 days a year can turn the loan into a consumer loan. That changes which rules apply to the file.
Cash-out use. Proceeds used for personal consumer purposes can pull a business-purpose loan back into consumer rules. State the use of funds honestly in the application.
Why Does the Business-Purpose Label Matter on Investment Property?
On the depletion path, an investment property loan is business-purpose, and it is reviewed differently from a standard owner-occupied mortgage. The Federal Register text of the CFPB’s ability-to-repay rule says business-purpose loans fall outside that rule and treats investment-purpose loans as business-purpose.
Do not read that as a free pass. Hunton’s legal note on business-purpose investment mortgages warns that “business purpose” does not mean “compliance exempt.” Lenders still document the purpose, and some states license these lenders anyway.
The practical effect for you is small: the lender will ask what the property is for and how you will use the funds. The loan on a principal residence or second home is a consumer mortgage, and the standard consumer disclosures apply to it.
What Changes for a Washington Borrower?
Nothing about the program figures changes in Washington. The percentages, seasoning and leverage are the same. What changes is context, and that is yours to supply.
Washington is one of the 16 states where Lendmire’s consumer lending is licensed, so an owner-occupied or second-home file here can be placed through the network. The lender’s licensing covers the loan. Property taxes, insurance and local prices vary by county and are not program parameters.
The practical Washington issue is how an offer reads to the other side. A seller’s agent sees a letter and a proof-of-funds package. A letter that states the path, the loan amount and the conditions is easier to read than a vague note. Ask the broker to confirm in writing that the letter rests on assets and that you are not asking the seller to wait on an income review.
If you are weighing a similar plan in another state, the same mechanics apply, with different licensing.
Common Mistakes on Asset-Based Files
These mistakes come up repeatedly, and each one is avoidable before the file goes in.
- Moving money right before applying. A transfer between accounts looks like a new deposit. It needs sourcing and may fail seasoning.
- Counting one balance twice. The same account cannot cover the down payment and also count toward the qualifying total.
- Blending the two paths. A file uses the qualifier table or the depletion table. Mixing them yields a number no lender will recognize.
- Assuming crypto counts. It is not published as eligible. Convert it to cash in a regulated account first.
- Treating the letter as final. Appraisal, conditions and underwriting remain.
- Skipping the credit check. Credit is reviewed. This program is not “no credit check.”
Who Should Look at Another Program?
Asset-based mortgages fit borrowers whose balances are large and whose income is hard to document. They are a poor fit in three cases.
If you have steady income that you can document with deposits, the bank statement program is built for that and may be easier to qualify for. If the property is a rental you want to qualify on its rent, business-purpose rental financing is DSCR. And if your assets are modest, the depletion minimums above will likely rule you out.
Agency, FHA, VA and full-documentation jumbo loans each have their own rules, which are not this program’s. Compare them on their terms.
Key Terms Defined
Asset qualifier: the path where eligible assets, after the credit percentages, must equal or exceed the entire loan amount.
Asset depletion: the path where usable assets divided by 60 months become monthly qualifying income.
Seasoning: the time funds have been in your account, shown by dated statements.
Haircut: the share of a balance that does not count toward qualifying.
Debt-to-income (DTI): the share of monthly income that goes to housing and other debts.
Pre-approval: a lender’s conditional review of your file, subject to appraisal and underwriting, not a commitment to lend.
Lenders use “utilization,” “dissipation” and “asset-based” loosely. Ask which path a quote assumes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I have to sell my assets to qualify?
No. You document that the assets exist and show their statements. You keep them. On the depletion path they are converted to income on paper, not liquidated. Retirement accounts stay where they are, too.
Can I be pre-approved by more than one lender?
You can ask more than one lender to review the file. A broker can compare programs across several lenders, which matters here because haircuts and divisors differ. A pre-approval is a conditional review, not a commitment to lend, so compare the conditions in each letter and not just the loan amount.
Can I combine asset income with a pension?
Yes, on the depletion path. Asset-derived income may supplement documented income up to a 45% debt-to-income ratio. When it supplements, the minimum-assets rule is waived. Your pension is documented and your assets add to it. Subject to underwriting.
Do recent deposits matter?
Yes. The qualifier path wants 60 days of seasoning. The depletion path wants statements at least 120 days old plus one within 45 days, with sale-of-business, inheritance and legal-settlement funds excused from that seasoning. A new deposit from another source needs a paper trail.
What changes between pre-approval and closing?
The lender orders the appraisal, clears conditions and re-checks your assets and credit. A drop in balances, a new debt or a failed appraisal can change the outcome. Keep the accounts the way they were when the letter was issued.
Next Step
If you are qualifying on assets rather than income and want to see how the numbers work, Lendmire can help you compare asset-based mortgage options based on your statements, the property, credit profile, leverage, and your goals.
Washington buyers with large balances usually win or lose these files on statement seasoning, not on the size of the portfolio.
About Lendmire
Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a mortgage broker licensed for consumer lending in 16 states. Bank statement, P&L-only, 1099-only and asset-based mortgages for self-employed and high-net-worth borrowers are arranged through wholesale lenders on primary residences, second homes and investment properties; every file is underwritten by the lender under its program guidelines. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.
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Informational only. Not a Loan Estimate, approval, or commitment to lend. Program availability and eligibility are subject to lender guidelines, credit approval, property review, and underwriting.
References
1. Doss Law — Business Purpose Exemption Simplified
2. Federal Register — CFPB Ability-to-Repay and Qualified Mortgage Standards
3. Hunton — Beware of Business Purpose: Regulatory Implications for Investment Mortgages
This article is part of Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage program — full qualification details, guidelines, and scenarios live on the program page.
Related reading: Can You Relocate to Florida and Buy a Home on Assets Before You Have Local Income? · How to Refinance a Mortgage After Retiring With No W-2 Income · Can You Refinance a Michigan Home on Assets When Your Income Stops?
Guides: Asset-Based Mortgage in Washington
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
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Disclosures. The information presented in this article is general market commentary, not financial, legal, or tax advice. Lendmire is a mortgage brokerage (NMLS# 2371349) — not a direct lender or depository institution — and loan placement is subject to lender underwriting. Nothing in this content represents a commitment to lend. Loan terms, pricing, and program availability vary based on borrower qualifications, property characteristics, and state of subject property, and are subject to change at any time. Lendmire complies with Equal Housing Opportunity requirements. Consumer access: nmlsconsumeraccess.org.