Current asset-based guidelines, updated from one source.
The block below is the asset-based program reduced to the figures that decide a file, read from Lendmire’s single guideline source and refreshed on this page when the wholesale sheets change: the loan ceiling on each path, the credit floor, the leverage by purpose and occupancy, and the share of each account type that counts. Everything else on the page is explanation.
Up to $4,000,000 on assets alone; $3,500,000 when assets become income
The largest loan on the asset qualifier path is $4,000,000, provided the usable assets equal or exceed it; the asset depletion path tops out at $3,500,000. Neither figure is a quote, and the lender’s own calculation of the usable assets governs the amount.
The asset qualifier path’s published floor; the depletion path follows the suite’s score and amount matrix
The 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.
For informational purposes only. This is not a commitment to lend or extend credit, an offer, or a quote. Program parameters shown are wholesale lender guidelines in force on the date shown, are subject to change without notice, and every figure depends on the borrower, the property, the occupancy, the selected path, and full underwriting. Asset credit percentages and the qualifying arithmetic shown are illustrative; the lender’s own calculation governs. 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.
There are two questions a lender can ask of a balance sheet. Is there enough here to cover the whole loan? Or, spread across a fixed number of months, is there enough here to look like the income the loan needs? The asset qualifier path asks the first and the asset depletion path the second, and a Kitty Hawk buyer is qualified on one of them, not both at once.
For the program overview, see Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage program, or the statewide guide at Asset-Based Mortgage in North Carolina; 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 Kitty Hawk 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 Kitty Hawk loan officer settles that before an offer is written.
The asset depletion path
On the asset depletion path the lender applies a haircut to each account type, adds up what remains, and divides the total by a fixed number of months to produce a monthly qualifying income. Cash and certificates of deposit count in full, securities at a lower share, private stock lower still, retirement accounts lower again regardless of age, and real-estate equity lowest. A Kitty Hawk file then runs through the debt-to-income test with the new payment included.
Seasoning, statements, and what counts
The statements are read twice on a Kitty Hawk file: first for seasoning, two months on the asset qualifier path and a statement at least four months old plus the latest one on the asset depletion path, then for how much of each eligible account counts. Covering the loan credits most accounts in full and retirement accounts by the owner’s age; converting assets into income applies haircuts by account type and ignores age. The same balance sheet produces two usable totals, and the loan officer shows both before underwriting settles the path.
The calculator runs a Kitty Hawk 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.
Kitty Hawk’s market in figures — and how asset-based lending fits.
Local context for a Kitty Hawk 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 Kitty Hawk neighborhoods, distinct asset files.
A loan officer sees Kitty Hawk 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.
Resort condominium projects
Rental programs, fractional ownership, and mandatory rental pools are the features a lender’s review weighs most. For a Kitty Hawk buyer set on a resort building, the review answers whether the file can be written at all, and the statements answer the rest. Roughly 1,175 Kitty Hawk households own their homes on the latest Census estimate — 73% of all households, the pool an asset-based purchase joins.
Rental-ready properties
A Kitty Hawk 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. Kitty Hawk is home to about 3.7K people.
Second homes and vacation condominiums
Kitty Hawk’s second homes are the program’s natural market: a principal residence elsewhere, a portfolio, and a vacation home bought on the statements. The asset qualifier path keeps income out of the file when the usable total covers the loan. About 27% of Kitty Hawk’s households rent — roughly 444 renter households on the latest Census estimate.
Waterfront and view homes
A Kitty Hawk waterfront purchase on assets is the program’s signature file. The usable total is measured against a loan at the second-home leverage, the retirement credit is applied by the owner’s age, and the flood policy enters the depletion ratio if the file is written on that path. On a home in Kitty Hawk priced at or above the median, the asset qualifier path finances up to 80% of the price on a purchase — the balance of the price is the down payment, and the usable assets must cover the loan itself.
Estate and compound properties
Kitty Hawk’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. Median household income in Kitty Hawk sits near $94,450 on the latest Census estimate.
Year-round primary residences
Principal residences in Kitty Hawk are financed on the program’s full purchase leverage, with the assets covering the loan or converting into income. A loan officer confirms the occupancy with the borrower’s plans and reads the statements against both paths. The occupancy row sets the leverage. The median owner-occupied home value in Kitty Hawk runs near $535,000 on the latest Census estimate.
Whichever Kitty Hawk neighborhood the home sits in, the asset-based questions are the same: which accounts count, at what share, whether the total covers the loan, and if not, what income the depletion path produces. The cards are context; the snapshot is the rule.
Four ways Kitty Hawk buyers put their assets to work.
Four ways Kitty Hawk 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.
Buy a home on assets alone, with no income in the file
A Kitty Hawk buyer whose usable assets equal or exceed the loan buys a principal residence or a second home on the asset qualifier path: no employment verified, no tax returns, no income calculation. The down payment is at least the share of the price above the leverage ceiling, the statements cover two months, and the credit score sits at or above the published floor.
Turn a portfolio into qualifying income
When the balances will not cover the loan, the depletion path turns them into a monthly figure instead. For a Kitty Hawk 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.
Keep the investments invested
Borrowing against the strength of a balance sheet rather than spending it is the program’s quiet use. The Kitty Hawk 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.
Finance a second home or a rental on assets
Second homes are a natural fit: a Kitty Hawk 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.
Measure a Kitty Hawk 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 Kitty Hawk loan officer runs the lender’s own version before anything is written.
Kitty Hawk asset coverage estimate
The calculator is seeded with a Kitty Hawk 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 $750,000 price above the Kitty Hawk 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 North Carolina (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.
Three routes to the same closing table, compared on what each one counts: the balance sheet in full, the balance sheet as income, or the deposit history of a business owner. A Kitty Hawk loan officer prices the route the file supports best, and the comparison below explains how the choice is made.
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.
Haircut assets divided by the divisor into a monthly income, then the debt-to-income test with the new payment. Principal residences, second homes, and investment property; purchase, rate-and-term, and cash-out at published ceilings; a minimum-assets rule when the income stands alone; longer seasoning.
Business or personal deposits over a run of statements, read as income with an expense factor, for the self-employed owner whose tax returns understate the business. Balances are not the point; cash flow is. Leverage and reserves follow that program’s own matrix. See Lendmire’s bank statement loan program.
Assets that cover the loan, assets that become income, deposits that become income: three answers to one question, and the right one for a Kitty Hawk 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 Kitty Hawk 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 Kitty Hawk 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.
Here are five details, chosen for the Kitty Hawk file, that most often reshape an asset-based loan. The first two apply to nearly every file; the rest depend on the accounts, the occupancy, and the purpose.
Use these checks to keep the Kitty Hawk file clean and fundable.
Three things to settle before a Kitty Hawk 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: each retirement account is credited by its owner’s age on the asset qualifier path.
- Count the months: two months of statements per account cover the loan on the asset qualifier path.
- Read the credit report: the asset qualifier path publishes a credit floor; the depletion path reads a matrix.
Retirement accounts and the age line
The owner’s age decides how much of a 401(k) or IRA counts on the asset qualifier path: a reduced share under 59½ and the full balance from 59½ on. For a Kitty Hawk file built mostly on retirement money, a birthday can be the difference between covering the loan and falling short, and a loan officer checks the date against the age line before the path is chosen.
Seasoning by path
The lender wants to see that the money has been the borrower’s for a while and is not a loan dressed as an asset. Recent transfers are traced to the account they came from; recent deposits are documented with their source. A Kitty Hawk file with a clean trail seasons without friction; one with unexplained deposits waits.
Credit and housing history
Assets do not substitute for credit. A Kitty Hawk borrower with the balance sheet to cover the loan still needs the score at or above the floor; on the depletion path the housing history must be one the program accepts, and more than one bankruptcy is not eligible. The credit report is pulled once and read against the path chosen.
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 Kitty Hawk 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.
Reserves by path
Reserves are light on this program: the assets that qualify the loan are the reserves, and on the asset qualifier path none are required at or below the refinance leverage; above it, up to the purchase ceiling, the lender sets the requirement. A Kitty Hawk buyer still plans the down payment and closing costs so the usable total is not reduced at closing.
From a Kitty Hawk 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 a Kitty Hawk file.
Asset review
The first conversation settles the shape of a Kitty Hawk file: which path the balances support, what leverage the purpose allows, how long the accounts have seasoned, and whether the usable total clears the loan with a margin. The review names the path, and the loan officer writes the outcome down before any offer is drafted.
Contract and appraisal
A Kitty Hawk buyer on assets competes like any financed buyer: the contract, the appraisal contingency, and the timeline are the usual ones. What differs is that no employment verification sits in the path on the asset qualifier side, so the file is often quieter than an income file at this stage.
Underwriting
Conditions, when they come, are usually documentary: a missing statement page, a deposit without its source, an account that needs its holdings shown. A Kitty Hawk 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 a Kitty Hawk file keeps a margin above the threshold.
A brokerage that reads both paths.
Lendmire is a mortgage brokerage licensed for consumer lending in sixteen states, and on an asset-based file the brokerage’s job is to read the balance sheet against both paths, place the loan with the wholesale program that fits, and put the terms in writing. The lender is never named on these pages; the arithmetic is.
Both paths, one set of statements
A Kitty Hawk 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. A Kitty Hawk 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. A Kitty Hawk 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.
Kitty Hawk asset-based mortgage FAQs
The questions below are the ones a Kitty Hawk loan officer hears first from a buyer who has assets and no income on paper. The answers describe the program’s rules in words; the figures live in the snapshot above.
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 Kitty Hawk household with wealth and little income on paper, it is often the mortgage that fits.
How does the asset qualifier path work?
The path has three tests: the usable assets must cover the loan, the loan must sit inside the leverage for the purpose, and the credit score must be at or above the published floor. Reserves are not required at or below the refinance leverage. Income is never asked for.
How does the asset depletion path work?
The assets are haircut by type and divided by the divisor into a monthly income that runs through the ratio test. Seasoning is longer on this path: statements at least four months old plus a current one, with sale-of-business, inheritance, and legal-settlement funds excused. Cash-out refinances have their own ceiling, cash-out proceeds never count as assets, and a first-time investor needs a stronger score than an owner-occupant.
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 a Kitty Hawk buyer can see the difference on the actual balances.
What credit score does an asset-based mortgage need?
A clean recent housing record and a score at or above the floor are the expectation. A Kitty Hawk buyer with a strong portfolio and a weak score is not repaired by the portfolio; the credit question is answered first, and the asset question second.
I just sold my business. Can I buy on the proceeds?
Yes, and the program is built for it. Once two months of statements show the proceeds in the account, the asset qualifier path reads them toward covering the loan with no income in the file. On the depletion path, sale-of-business funds are excused from the usual seasoning and documented with the sale paperwork instead.
What sets the timeline on an asset-based mortgage?
The program does not promise a closing date, and neither does this page. What a Kitty Hawk buyer controls is the completeness of the statements and the explanation of the deposits, and those decide whether the file moves at the contract’s pace or waits.
How much can I borrow against the price or the value?
The ceilings are program parameters, not promises. A Kitty Hawk 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.
Are reserves required?
No reserve months are published for the asset qualifier path at or below the refinance leverage, and the depletion path lists none; above the refinance leverage the lender sets the requirement. The assets that qualify the loan stay where they are, and the lender reads them again for a Kitty Hawk file after the funds to close are drawn.
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 Kitty Hawk loan officer explains which path the statements support before any income paperwork is discussed.
Run the Kitty Hawk asset numbers, then get the terms in writing.
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 Kitty Hawk — for the statewide guidelines, markets, and scenarios, see Asset-Based Mortgage in North Carolina, part of Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage program.
Nearby markets in North Carolina: Kill Devil Hills · Duck · Nags Head · Corolla · Ocracoke · Greenville · Rocky Mount · Emerald Isle
Related programs: Bank Statement Loans · Jumbo Loans · Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loans