Current asset-based guidelines, updated from one source.
Four cards and three tables carry every figure an asset-based file turns on, drawn from one source built on the wholesale program sheets: amount, credit, leverage, and the retirement credit in the cards; the account-by-account credit, the depletion haircuts, and the leverage by occupancy in the tables. The prose around them explains how the figures are used.
Up to $4,000,000 on assets alone; $3,500,000 when assets become income
The asset qualifier path reaches $4,000,000 when the usable assets cover the whole loan; the asset depletion path runs from $125,000 to $3,500,000 with the assets converted into income instead. Both are program ceilings, not offers, and the placing lender confirms the amount for the file.
The asset qualifier path’s published floor; the depletion path follows the suite’s score and amount matrix
The asset qualifier path publishes a 600 decision-score floor. The asset depletion path follows the score and loan-amount matrix of the documentation suite it belongs to, where the floor rises with the leverage and the amount. The score is read from the credit report at application; it is never promised here.
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
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.
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.
The asset-based program is one program with two doors. Through the first, a St. Clair Shores 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 Michigan; for the age rule on retirement withdrawals, see the IRS.
Two paths, one program
A St. Clair Shores loan officer reads the statements against both paths before recommending one. Covering the loan outright keeps income out of the file and keeps the reserve requirement off at the refinance leverage, but it needs assets equal to the loan. Depleting the assets into income does not need the balances to cover the loan, opens investment property and cash-out at their own ceilings, and brings the ratio test back. The recommendation follows the balances.
The asset qualifier path
No employment and no income is documented on this path. That is not a loophole; it is the structure. The lender’s ability-to-repay review rests on the assets themselves, which is why they must cover the whole loan rather than a share of it. A St. Clair Shores retiree whose statements add up to the loan amount is read on those statements, without a tax return, a pay stub, or a bank statement income calculation.
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. A St. Clair Shores loan officer sorts the eligible accounts from the ineligible ones at the start.
Seasoning, statements, and what counts
Seasoning means how long the money has been where the statements say it is. On the asset qualifier path, two months of statements for each qualifying account is the rule. On the asset depletion path the lender wants statements at least four months old plus the most recent one, with the sale of a business, an inheritance, or a legal settlement excused from the wait. A St. Clair Shores buyer planning a purchase after a liquidity event plans the seasoning first.
The calculator runs a St. Clair Shores 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.
St. Clair Shores’ market in figures — and how asset-based lending fits.
The local median home value is the floor of the conversation for a buyer who qualifies on assets, not the ceiling: the program’s loan amounts run well past it. The Census figures below give St. Clair Shores’ population, typical home value, and ownership, the ground an asset-based file sits above.
Market context only. 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 St. Clair Shores neighborhoods, distinct asset files.
The St. Clair Shores market breaks into submarkets, and an asset-based mortgage reads differently in each: a condominium near the center, a second home on the water, an estate on acreage, a rental on the far side of town. The cards describe the typical file in each and what the path choice turns on there.
Lakefront and view properties
Lakefront and view homes near St. Clair Shores appraise on scarce comparable sales and often carry flood insurance, which enters the depletion path’s ratio as part of the housing payment. On the asset qualifier path the insurance is a cost of ownership; on the depletion path it is part of what the derived income must carry. St. Clair Shores is home to about 58K people.
Historic and estate homes
St. Clair Shores’ historic and estate homes are valued on few comparable sales, and the leverage is applied to the appraised value. A buyer covering the loan on assets plans a margin above the loan so a value that lands under the contract does not push the file onto the depletion path. About 17% of St. Clair Shores’ households rent — roughly 4,611 renter households on the latest Census estimate.
Rural acreage and farmettes
For rural property near St. Clair Shores, residential use and comparable sales are usually the hardest questions in the file. The usable total and the path are settled first so the buyer knows the loan the assets support before the appraisal answers whether the property qualifies. On a home in St. Clair Shores 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.
Newer executive subdivisions
A St. Clair Shores subdivision home bought on assets is read plainly: the comparable sales support the price, the statements are counted, the age rule is applied to retirement accounts, and the path is named. The calculator on this page is seeded to a price typical of such a subdivision. The median owner-occupied home value in St. Clair Shores runs near $210,700 on the latest Census estimate.
Second homes in the area
A second home near St. Clair Shores bought by a household from elsewhere is a second-home file on either path at the second-home leverage. The occupancy is confirmed with intent and use, and the assets are read exactly as for a principal residence. Roughly 22,716 St. Clair Shores households own their homes on the latest Census estimate — 83% of all households, the pool an asset-based purchase joins.
The retiree buying on a portfolio
In a smaller market like St. Clair Shores the balance sheet often covers the loan outright. When it does not, a supplemented depletion file with the pension and the derived income together is the common answer, with the minimum-assets rule waived. A loan officer runs both versions on the same statements. Median household income in St. Clair Shores sits near $73,500 on the latest Census estimate.
Submarkets change the appraisal and the price. They do not change the credit percentages, the haircuts, the divisor, the leverage ceilings, or the seasoning. A St. Clair Shores file is qualified on those rules wherever the home is.
Four ways St. Clair Shores buyers put their assets to work.
The asset-based mortgage does one thing the income programs cannot: it lends to a household whose statements, not its earnings, show the means to repay. Four common St. Clair Shores uses follow, each read against the path that usually carries it.
Keep the investments invested
Borrowing against the strength of a balance sheet rather than spending it is the program’s quiet use. The St. Clair Shores 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.
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. A St. Clair Shores loan officer runs both paths before recommending this one.
Refinance a home the assets already stand behind
Replacing an old loan on assets rather than income keeps a St. Clair Shores household from documenting earnings it no longer has. The path’s refinance ceiling is lower than its purchase ceiling, and the assets must still cover the whole new loan; a loan officer confirms cash-out treatment with the lender before the file is placed.
Buy a home on assets alone, with no income in the file
A St. Clair Shores 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.
Measure a St. Clair Shores 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 St. Clair Shores loan officer runs the lender’s own version before anything is written.
St. Clair Shores asset coverage estimate
The starting figures are a St. Clair Shores 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 St. Clair Shores 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 Michigan (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.
For a St. Clair Shores buyer with assets and an unconventional income picture, the comparison is between covering the loan, depleting the assets, and documenting deposits. The rows set out the strengths of each, and the last row says where each one fits.
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 St. Clair Shores 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 St. Clair Shores scenario review.
Preparation for a St. Clair Shores asset-based review is mostly gathering: the statements for each account, the age of the owner of each retirement account, the credit report, and, on the depletion path, any income the asset income will supplement. The items below are the ones a loan officer asks for first.
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.
The figures in the snapshot are the program’s; the details below are where a St. Clair Shores file moves. Which side of the age line the owner stands on, how long the money has been in place, which accounts the lender will count, and which path the occupancy allows are settled before the terms are written.
Use these checks to keep the St. Clair Shores file clean and fundable.
The checklist for a St. Clair Shores 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: the depletion path wants a statement at least four months old plus a current one.
- Check the minimum: the minimum is waived when the asset income supplements documented earnings.
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 St. Clair Shores 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
Seasoning differs by path. Covering the loan with assets needs two months of statements for each qualifying account. Depleting the assets into income needs a statement at least four months old plus a current one, with sale-of-business, inheritance, and legal-settlement funds excused. A St. Clair Shores buyer timing a purchase after a liquidity event counts the months before the offer.
The minimum-assets rule on the depletion path
When depletion income is the only income in the file, the pool of qualified assets must meet a minimum: the lesser of a stated amount or a multiple of the loan balance, and never below a liquid floor. A St. Clair Shores buyer with a small loan clears it easily; a buyer with a large loan and a modest pool may not, and the minimum is read before the income is even calculated.
Credit and housing history
Assets do not substitute for credit. A St. Clair Shores 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.
Large and recent deposits
The lender’s concern is that the asset is the borrower’s to keep and not a loan in disguise. A St. Clair Shores 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.
From a St. Clair Shores asset review to keys in hand.
From the first conversation to the keys, a St. Clair Shores 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
The first conversation settles the shape of a St. Clair Shores 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
The contract sets the price the loan is measured against; the appraisal confirms the value supports it. On a St. Clair Shores 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. A St. Clair Shores 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
Closing on an asset-based loan looks like any other closing from the outside. From the inside, the difference is what did not happen along the way: no employment call, no tax transcript, no income calculation on the asset qualifier path. A St. Clair Shores loan officer attends to the funds to close so the usable total is intact.
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
The comparison printed on this page is run for real on every St. Clair Shores file: assets that cover the loan beside assets that become income beside deposits read as income, and the written terms follow from it. The buyer sees the usable total on each path, the margin above the loan, and the derived income beside the payment before anything is signed.
The account rules explained before the offer
Which accounts count, how retirement money is credited by age, how long each account must season, what a large deposit needs behind it: a St. Clair Shores buyer hears these before the contract is signed, not after the underwriter asks. The margin above the threshold is shown, so the down payment and the closing costs can be planned around it.
Licensed, consumer-purpose, in writing
Every figure on this page is a program parameter drawn from one guideline source. The written terms for a St. Clair Shores file come from a licensed loan officer after the review, the credit report, and the appraisal; the page is where the method is explained, not where the loan is made.
Trusted by buyers & families alike.
St. Clair Shores asset-based mortgage FAQs
The questions St. Clair Shores buyers bring to an asset-based mortgage, answered in order: the two paths, the age rule, the seasoning, the eligible accounts, the leverage, the occupancies, and the comparison with a bank statement loan.
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. A St. Clair Shores 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 a St. Clair Shores 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?
Picture the balance sheet spread evenly across a span of months: that monthly slice is the income the lender uses. For a St. Clair Shores household, the question is whether that slice, added to any documented income, carries the housing payment and the other debts within the ratio. The calculator on this page shows the slice beside the payment.
How are 401(k) and IRA balances counted, and why does 59½ matter?
A 401(k), a traditional or Roth IRA, and similar employer plans are read the same way: by the owner’s age on the asset qualifier path and at a flat haircut on the depletion path. Vested balances count; stock options and unvested restricted stock do not. A St. Clair Shores loan officer confirms each account’s treatment at the review.
What credit score does an asset-based mortgage need?
Assets do not replace credit. A St. Clair Shores 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 take cash out?
On the asset depletion path, yes, at a published cash-out ceiling on every occupancy, and the cash taken out never counts as an asset. On the asset qualifier path, whether cash-out is offered and at what leverage is set by the lender and not published; a St. Clair Shores loan officer confirms the treatment before the refinance is structured.
What sets the timeline on an asset-based mortgage?
The program does not promise a closing date, and neither does this page. What a St. Clair Shores 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.
Do I need to show any income at all?
The asset qualifier path is built for the St. Clair Shores household with no income on paper: a retiree, a founder between ventures, a family living on a portfolio. The depletion path can stand alone on asset income or supplement earnings with it; when it supplements, the minimum-assets rule is waived.
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 St. Clair Shores file after the funds to close are drawn.
How much can I borrow against the price or the value?
The ceilings are program parameters, not promises. A St. Clair Shores 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.
Run the St. Clair Shores asset numbers, then get the terms in writing.
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 St. Clair Shores — for the statewide guidelines, markets, and scenarios, see Asset-Based Mortgage in Michigan, part of Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage program.
Nearby markets in Michigan: Warren · Sterling Heights · Detroit · Royal Oak · Troy · Rochester Hills · Southfield · Dearborn
Related programs: Bank Statement Loans · Jumbo Loans · Super Jumbo Bank Statement Loans