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
Loan size follows the path. Covering the loan outright with usable assets reaches $4,000,000; spreading a pool of assets into a monthly income reaches $3,500,000 and starts at $125,000. The amount on either path is a program parameter, subject to the lender’s guidelines at lock.
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
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.
Program guidelines only, not an offer of credit. The loan amounts, credit floors, leverage limits, asset credit percentages, haircuts, divisor, and seasoning rules on this page are wholesale program parameters subject to change without notice and to full underwriting of the borrower and the property. Which accounts count and how the age rule applies are settled by the lender. 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.
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 an Aspen 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
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 Aspen 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 Aspen buyer with a mixed balance sheet is read on the sum.
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. An Aspen loan officer sorts the eligible accounts from the ineligible ones at the start.
Seasoning, statements, and what counts
Seasoning is the proof that the assets are the borrower’s to keep: two months of statements on the asset qualifier path, older statements plus the current one on the asset depletion path. Large recent deposits inside that window are read, not ignored: a transfer between the borrower’s own accounts is documented as such, a sale of property or a business with its paperwork, and a gift under the lender’s gift rules. An Aspen file that shows the trail cleanly meets fewer questions in underwriting.
The calculator runs an Aspen balance sheet through both paths at once. It credits cash, brokerage, and retirement balances at their shares, flips the retirement credit when the owner is past the age line, measures the total against the loan, and divides the haircut total into a monthly income beside the estimated payment. The arithmetic is illustrative; the lender’s own calculation governs.
Aspen’s market in figures — and how asset-based lending fits.
Local context for an Aspen 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. Population and owner households describe the depth of the market; the median value describes its height. An asset-based file turns on the second more than the first, because the loan the assets must cover or carry follows the price.
Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau — ACS 5-Year (2024) housing and population estimates, including tenure, home values, gross rents, and household income.
Distinct Aspen neighborhoods, distinct asset files.
Each card below is an Aspen submarket seen through the program: who buys there on assets, which path usually fits, and what the loan officer checks first. The figures in the snapshot apply everywhere; the emphasis changes from one card to the next.
Year-round primary residences
A year-round Aspen home bought on assets is the retiree’s file: the former residence sold, the proceeds in the accounts, and the new home financed on the statements. The usable total usually covers the loan outright. When it does not, the depletion path converts the proceeds into income after its own longer seasoning period. Median household income in Aspen sits near $74,033 on the latest Census estimate.
Resort condominium projects
Rental programs, fractional ownership, and mandatory rental pools are the features a lender’s review weighs most. For an Aspen buyer set on a resort building, the review answers whether the file can be written at all, and the statements answer the rest. About 43% of Aspen’s households rent — roughly 1,763 renter households on the latest Census estimate.
Estate and compound properties
Aspen’s estate and compound properties are where the program’s largest loans are written, and the asset qualifier path is the natural fit there: a balance sheet that covers a loan near the ceiling, no income in the file, and an appraisal that takes its time. The margin above the loan is the figure the loan officer watches. The median owner-occupied home value in Aspen runs near $819,900 on the latest Census estimate.
Second homes and vacation condominiums
For an Aspen vacation condominium, the building’s review runs alongside the asset review. Resort projects with rental programs or heavy commercial space can fall outside the lender’s rules regardless of the balance sheet, so the review is ordered early. Roughly 2,342 Aspen households own their homes on the latest Census estimate — 57% of all households, the pool an asset-based purchase joins.
Waterfront and view homes
Scarce comparable sales and high values make the appraisal the hardest part of the file on an Aspen view home; the assets are usually the easy part. A loan officer runs the file at the contract price and at a lower value so the margin is known before the offer. On a home in Aspen 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.
Rental-ready properties
An Aspen rental financed on assets is a depletion file by definition, read with the investment row of the leverage table and the program’s investor credit rules. The asset qualifier path does not reach investment property. Cash-out on a rental is capped at the depletion path’s cash-out ceiling, and the proceeds never count as assets. Aspen is home to about 6.8K people.
Across these Aspen submarkets the program is identical; what varies is the price the assets must cover or carry and the occupancy the buyer intends. A loan officer confirms the path, the credit, and the leverage for the specific file before an offer is written.
Four ways Aspen buyers put their assets to work.
The uses below are the ones Aspen 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.
Turn a portfolio into qualifying income
Depletion is the path for the household with meaningful savings and a modest paycheck, or no paycheck at all. The assets are read as income rather than as collateral, the leverage matches the qualifier path on a purchase, and the ratio test comes back into the file. An Aspen loan officer runs both paths before recommending this one.
Finance a second home or a rental on assets
A second home is reachable on either path at the same purchase leverage; an investment property is reachable on the asset depletion path only, at a lower ceiling. An Aspen buyer financing a rental on assets is qualified on the depletion income, the rental is underwritten as an investment occupancy, and a first-time investor needs a stronger score.
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 an Aspen retiree the file is the statements and the credit report, and the home can be the principal residence or a second one.
Buy after a liquidity event, before the next venture
The seller of an Aspen 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.
Measure an Aspen 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. An Aspen loan officer runs the lender’s own version before anything is written.
Aspen asset coverage estimate
A worked Aspen example to start from: price, loan, cash, brokerage, and retirement balances with the owner under the age line. The results show the asset qualifier verdict first and the depletion reading beneath it.
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 $1,150,000 price above the Aspen 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.
The same Aspen household can often be written three ways. The asset qualifier path asks the assets to cover the whole loan and needs the least paperwork. The asset depletion path does not need the balances to cover the loan and brings the ratio test back. The bank statement loan ignores the balances and reads the deposits instead. Which one fits depends on where the money shows up.
Assets that cover the loan, assets as income, or deposits as income.
Usable assets equal to the whole loan, no employment or income documented, principal residences and second homes, purchase and refinance at the path’s leverage, two months of statements, reserves not required at or below the refinance leverage. The path with the fewest questions, and the one that asks the assets to cover the whole loan.
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 Aspen 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 Aspen 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 Aspen 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.
What changes an asset-based file is rarely the headline figure. It is the retirement balance credited at a lower share because the owner is a year short of the age line, the deposit that has not seasoned, the account type the lender will not count, or the rental occupancy that moves the file to the depletion path. The items below catch them.
Use these checks to keep the Aspen file clean and fundable.
Three things to settle before an Aspen review: which side of the age line the owner of each retirement account stands on, whether every account has seasoned for the path, and whether the usable total reaches the loan or the file belongs on the depletion path instead.
- 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.
- Name the occupancy: investment property opens the depletion path only, at its own ceiling.
Retirement accounts and the age line
Retirement balances are the most age-sensitive figure in the program. On the asset qualifier path they are credited by the owner’s age; on the asset depletion path they are haircut at a flat share whatever the age. An Aspen household with a large retirement account and a modest brokerage account is read carefully on both, because the usable totals can land on opposite sides of the loan.
Seasoning by path
Seasoning is the detail that most often sets the calendar for an Aspen 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.
Occupancy decides the path
The occupancy also moves the leverage. On the depletion path the investment-property row sits below the owner-occupied rows for a purchase and matches them for a cash-out. An Aspen rental financed on assets is a depletion file at the investment ceiling, read with the rental’s own appraisal and the program’s investor rules.
Large and recent deposits
The lender’s concern is that the asset is the borrower’s to keep and not a loan in disguise. An Aspen buyer who moves money between accounts before applying creates a paper trail that has to be reconstructed; the cleaner approach is to leave the accounts as they are and document the history that already exists.
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 Aspen file with a prior housing event waits out the program’s seasoning.
From an Aspen asset review to keys in hand.
From the first conversation to the keys, an Aspen 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
Start with the statements, the credit score, the occupancy, and the purpose. A Lendmire loan officer sorts the eligible accounts, applies the credit shares and the haircuts, reads the usable total against the loan on the asset qualifier path and into income on the depletion path, confirms the age rule for each retirement account, and puts the result in writing.
Contract and appraisal
The contract sets the price the loan is measured against; the appraisal confirms the value supports it. On an Aspen 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 Aspen 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 Aspen 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 Aspen 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
Before any recommendation, the Aspen statements are run through the asset qualifier path and the asset depletion path on the lender’s own rules: the credit shares and the age line on one side, the haircuts and the divisor on the other. The buyer sees the usable total against the loan and the derived income against the payment, and the path is chosen on the result.
The account rules explained before the offer
Reading the statements early is the whole method. An Aspen 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 Aspen 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.
Aspen asset-based mortgage FAQs
Plain answers to the questions Aspen 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?
An asset-based mortgage is a consumer home loan qualified on what the borrower owns rather than what the borrower earns. The lender counts eligible accounts, credits each at a share, and either requires the total to cover the whole loan or converts it into a monthly income. In Aspen it is the loan for retirees, sellers of businesses, and households living on a portfolio.
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 Aspen 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. An Aspen loan officer runs both versions where earnings exist.
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 Aspen buyer can see the difference on the actual balances.
What credit score does an asset-based mortgage need?
Assets do not replace credit. An Aspen 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.
Do I need to show any income at all?
Not on the asset qualifier path. No employment is verified and no income is documented; the lender’s ability-to-repay review rests on the assets, which is why they must cover the whole loan. On the asset depletion path the assets are converted into income, and any documented earnings can be added to it.
What sets the timeline on an asset-based mortgage?
No employment verification and no tax transcript on the asset qualifier path remove two of the steps an income loan carries, but the account documentation replaces them. An Aspen buyer who gathers every statement page and the paperwork behind each large deposit before applying sets the pace.
How is this different from a bank statement loan?
A bank statement loan reads the deposits flowing into a self-employed owner’s accounts as income; an asset-based mortgage reads the balances sitting in the accounts. The first suits the Aspen business owner with strong cash flow and modest savings; the second suits the household with strong savings and little or no income. Lendmire places both.
How long do the assets need to be in the accounts?
Count the months before the offer. For an Aspen 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.
How much can I borrow against the price or the value?
The ceilings are program parameters, not promises. An Aspen refinance on the asset qualifier path plans the new loan against the refinance figure; a cash-out on the depletion path against the cash-out figure; a rental against the investment row. The loan officer confirms the row for the file.
Keep the portfolio invested and finance the Aspen home on it.
An asset-based review is the first step, and it asks only for the statements. The statements are read against both paths and a bank statement loan, and the recommendation follows the numbers.
This guide covers Aspen — 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: Crested Butte · Vail · Breckenridge · Winter Park · Steamboat Springs · Grand Junction · Lakewood · Arvada
Related programs: Bank Statement Loans · Jumbo Loans · Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loans