The Quick Read: Only shares that have vested and landed in your account count, and they count as an asset, not as a grant. A lender will not credit stock you have not yet received. Through select asset-based programs, vested shares can cover a loan outright or be converted into monthly qualifying income, subject to underwriting.
- Unvested stock units are a promise from your employer. They are not income and not an asset on any path.
- Vested shares can count as assets, so a salary that looks small next to your total pay stops being the bottleneck.
- Rental investors can use the same shares for the down payment and reserves, since a rental loan looks at the property, not your paycheck.
- Every file is fully underwritten, and your assets are documented with statements.
Why Does Your Offer Letter Say One Thing and the Mortgage File Another?
An offer letter lists total compensation, but a mortgage file lists what you have received and can prove. For many California tech workers, that gap is large. Base pay is modest next to the equity, and the equity arrives in installments.
Picture a software engineer in the Bay Area whose offer letter shows a big annual stock grant. Her paystubs show a salary that supports a small loan on a conventional income review. Her brokerage account, though, holds several years of vested shares. The bank sees the first number. The second number is the one that matters on an asset-based file.
A restricted stock unit, or RSU, is a promise of company shares delivered on a schedule. As Bankrate’s RSU explainer notes, units that have not vested are typically forfeited if you leave the company. A promise that can vanish is not something a lender can count.
Key Terms Defined
Vesting is the date a stock grant becomes yours. Before that date the employer can still take it back.
Delivery is when vested shares actually land in your brokerage account without restrictions. Vested but undelivered shares are still not usable.
Usable assets are your documented balances after the program applies its credit percentages. A retirement account might count at less than its face value, for example.
Asset qualifier path is the route where eligible assets must equal or exceed the entire loan, and no employment or income is documented.
Asset depletion path is the route where usable assets are divided by 60 months to create a monthly qualifying income. That income then runs through the debt-to-income test, which compares monthly debts to monthly income.
Seasoning is how long money has sat in an account before a lender will rely on it.
Reserves are funds left over after closing, usually measured in months of the property’s payment.
How Underwriting Treats Vested Stock, Step by Step
A lender asks three questions of your stock, in order: is it yours, is it in your account, and can you prove both with paper. The paperwork is where most files stall, so the steps below follow the paper.
1. Confirm the shares have vested and been delivered. The vesting schedule from your equity plan portal shows what has vested. Your brokerage statement shows what actually arrived.
2. Identify which account holds them. A brokerage account is treated differently from a retirement account or a private-company ledger.
3. Choose the path. Either the assets cover the whole loan, or the assets become income. You are qualified on one path at a time, never both.
4. Apply the credit percentages. Each asset type counts at a share of its balance, and that share differs by path.
5. Check seasoning. The lender wants statements showing the balances have been in place long enough.
6. Run the lender’s review. Credit score, property, and leverage still apply, subject to underwriting.
Your pay history matters far less on the asset paths. It still matters on an income-based review, and that is where the tech-pay problem begins.
Route One: Vested Stock as Income on a Conventional File
Agency-style loans can count vested stock as income, but only with a documented history. That is why many tech workers with large portfolios still get turned down on salary.
Fannie Mae’s announcement on restricted stock units added them as an eligible income source, but only once the stock has vested and been distributed without restriction. The calculation also changes depending on whether the income arrives as shares or as cash, and on how long you have received it.
Enact’s underwriting explainer adds the paperwork list. The lender wants evidence that the stock is publicly traded and a vesting schedule showing past and future vests. It also wants brokerage or bank records showing earlier deliveries. Enact also says sign-on bonuses paid as restricted stock are ineligible as qualifying income.
That is a contrast, not the program discussed in the rest of this article. If your history is short, your company is private, or you changed employers recently, the income route often runs out of road. The asset routes below do not depend on your pay history.
Route Two: Vested Stock as an Asset
On the asset routes, a vested share is a balance on a statement. Lendmire arranges these loans as a broker through select lenders in its wholesale network. The asset-based mortgage programs are written for borrowers whose balances are large and whose documented income is not.
Across that network, two paths exist. They are consumer mortgages on a principal residence or second home. Investment property is available only on the depletion path, where the loan is business-purpose.
The asset qualifier path: assets cover the whole loan
Here your eligible assets, after the credit percentages, must equal or exceed the entire loan amount. No employment or income is documented, which means no traditional personal-income documentation, pay stubs or employment verification. Every file is still fully underwritten, with the assets documented by statements.
- Leverage: up to 80% loan-to-value on a purchase and 75% on a refinance, for a principal residence or second home, subject to underwriting.
- Loan size: up to $4,000,000.
- What counts: brokerage accounts, certificates of deposit, money market and savings at 100%. Retirement accounts count at 90% under age 59½ and 100% at 59½ or older. Accounts combine.
- Seasoning: 60 days, with two months of statements per qualifying account.
- Credit: a 600 minimum score, subject to underwriting.
Here is an illustrative case, and the lender’s own calculation governs. Say you need an $800,000 loan. Your vested company shares sit in a brokerage account with $330,000 (counted at 100%). A 401(k) under 59½ holds $300,000 (counted at 90%, or $270,000). Savings add $200,000 (100%). That is $800,000 of usable assets, which is reviewed on assets alone.
Notice what carried that file: vested shares that had already landed in the account. The units still waiting to vest added nothing.
The asset depletion path: assets become income
On this path, usable assets are divided by 60 months. The result is a monthly qualifying income that must carry the housing payment and other debts through the debt-to-income test.
- Leverage on a principal residence or second home: up to 80% on a purchase or rate-and-term refinance, and 60% on a cash-out refinance.
- Leverage on an investment property: up to 65% on a purchase or rate-and-term refinance, and 60% on a cash-out.
- Loan size: $125,000 to $3,500,000.
- What counts: cash and certificates of deposit at 100%, securities at 80%, private stock at 75%, retirement accounts at 70% at any age, and real-estate equity at 60%.
- Minimums: qualified assets of at least the lesser of $1,000,000 or 1.25 times the loan, and never below $250,000 liquid when depletion is your only income source.
- Statements: at least 120 days old at application, plus the most recent statement within 45 days.
- Credit: the lender’s score and loan-amount matrix applies. A first-time investor on this path needs a 700.
Run the numbers on an illustrative file. You hold $1,500,000 in securities, including vested company shares, counted at 80% for $1,200,000. You also hold $300,000 in cash at 100%. That is $1,500,000 of usable assets, and divided by 60 months it produces $25,000 of monthly qualifying income. That income then carries the housing payment and your other debts through the debt-to-income test.
Cash-out proceeds never count as qualifying assets on this path. Asset-derived income can also supplement documented income up to a 45% debt-to-income ratio, and the minimum-assets rule is waived when it does. For a tech worker with a solid salary and a large vested position, that blend can matter more than either path alone.
The two paths side by side
| Factor | Asset qualifier | Asset depletion |
|---|---|---|
| What it tests | Assets cover the whole loan | Assets become monthly income |
| Brokerage and securities | 100% | 80% |
| Retirement accounts | 90% under 59½, 100% after | 70% at any age |
| Seasoning | 60 days, two statements | 120-day-old plus recent statement |
| Investment property | Not available | Available, business-purpose |
If you want more on how a portfolio gets counted, Lendmire’s piece Can You Use a Stock Portfolio to Qualify for a Mortgage? covers it in more depth.
What Changes If the Property Is a Rental?
For a rental, the stock mostly matters as the source of your cash. A DSCR loan is a rental-property loan underwritten mainly on whether the property’s rent covers its payment. Your RSU history is not the test on that kind of loan, subject to lender guidelines.
The shares still do real work. They fund the down payment, the closing costs, and the reserves left over afterward. To use vested shares that way, you typically sell them and document the proceeds. The paper trail is the brokerage sale confirmation plus the bank statement showing the deposit.
Because a rental loan is not capped by a personal debt-to-income ratio, a stock-heavy borrower can buy more than one property. The limit becomes cash per purchase, meaning the down payment plus reserves. Credit score and property type still shape eligibility and terms.
When you want to buy a rental using the stock itself as the qualifier, the depletion path is the asset-based option for investment property. Its leverage ceiling is lower, at 65% on a purchase, so you bring more cash. Tax treatment can depend on how the funds are used and how the property is held; borrowers should keep clear records and speak with a qualified tax professional before relying on any deduction.
One practical point on selling. Shares that land in your account are usually net of shares withheld for taxes, so the statement shows fewer shares than the grant said. Plan around the net amount, since that is what is actually available.
Where the General Rule Breaks
The rule that only vested and delivered shares count has several sharp edges. These are the situations that trip up tech borrowers most often.
Unvested units. They are not eligible on either path, and the depletion path lists non-vested restricted stock units as ineligible by name. Stock options are also not eligible there.
Sign-on stock still vesting. On an income review, Enact treats a sign-on bonus paid in restricted stock as ineligible income. On the asset paths it makes no difference, because only what has vested counts.
Private-company shares. Agency-style reviews are built around publicly traded stock. On the depletion path, private stock is credited at 75% through select programs, and how a given lender treats your shares is its call. Ask early, because a private ledger is harder to document than a brokerage statement.
Cash-settled units. If your employer pays the vest in cash rather than shares, the cash is just a deposit. Fannie Mae’s calculation differs for shares versus cash on an income file.
Leaving the employer. Unvested units are typically forfeited when you leave. A job change also breaks the current-employer history that an income review relies on. The asset paths do not read your tenure at the new company.
Counting the same shares twice. On conventional files, lenders generally will not let the same shares serve as both income and reserves. Pick one use for each block of stock.
Stock that moves between application and closing. A brokerage statement shows value on one date and does not freeze it. Shares can fall before closing, so the lender may re-verify value and apply its own treatment. Empower flags concentration risk in a portfolio heavy in one employer’s stock, and that risk is real for reserves.
Pledged or borrowed shares. Funds that are pledged or borrowed are not published as eligible on either path. Neither are cryptocurrency, precious metals, collectibles, or business accounts beyond your ownership share. The documented route is converting them to a seasoned cash balance in a regulated account, with the source reviewed by the lender.
Retirement accounts. They count, but at a discount. It is 90% under 59½ on the qualifier path and 70% on the depletion path, so a large 401(k) helps less than the same dollars in a brokerage account.
What Should You Gather Before You Apply?
Start with the documents that prove your shares are yours and are in your account. The table shows where each one usually comes from.
| Document | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| Vesting schedule | Your equity plan portal |
| Brokerage statements | Your brokerage account |
| Sale confirmations | Your brokerage account |
| Bank statements for deposits | Your bank |
| Retirement account statements | Your plan administrator |
| Government ID and credit authorization | You, at application |
Gather these before you make an offer. On the qualifier path the lender wants two months of statements per account, and a recent sale can reset the paper trail. Keep every confirmation and deposit record together so the story of each dollar is easy to follow.
The Honest Tradeoffs
The stronger play for many tech borrowers is to leave vested shares in the brokerage account rather than selling them. The qualifier path credits brokerage balances at 100%, so selling gains little there. On the depletion path, securities count at 80% while cash counts at 100%, so selling does lift the credit. Whether that is worth giving up the shares is a real judgment call.
The depletion path also carries a minimum-assets test and a lower leverage ceiling on investment property. Neither path is a shortcut around underwriting. Both are tools for a borrower whose balances are strong and whose paycheck understates them.
Which Route Are You?
Use the table below to find your starting point.
| Your situation | Likely starting point |
|---|---|
| Vested balances cover the whole loan | Asset qualifier path |
| Strong assets, loan larger than your assets | Asset depletion path |
| Salary plus a large vested position | Depletion supplementing income |
| Buying a rental, stock mainly for cash | Rental loan, stock for down payment |
| Mostly unvested or private shares | Depends on the lender, so ask early |
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. Lendmire’s consumer mortgage lending is licensed in 16 states, California among them. The program parameters above are the same in each of those states, and they are ceilings and floors, not offers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do unvested RSUs count toward qualifying for a mortgage?
No. Unvested units are a promise, and they are not an asset on either asset-based path. Only shares that have vested and been delivered to your account are counted. Bankrate notes that unvested units are typically forfeited if you leave your employer, which is why lenders will not credit them.
Do I have to sell my shares before applying?
Not necessarily. Vested shares in a brokerage account count as they are, at 100% on the qualifier path and 80% for securities on the depletion path. Selling turns shares into cash, which counts at 100% on the depletion path. Weigh that gain against what you give up by selling, and keep the sale confirmations if you do.
What if I just started at a new company?
A recent job change matters far less on the asset paths. Neither path reads your tenure at the new employer. The qualifier path documents no income at all, and the depletion path builds income from your assets. An income-based review, by contrast, usually wants a documented history of vests with your current employer.
Can I use private-company stock?
It depends on the lender and the program. On the depletion path, private stock is credited at 75% through select programs. The qualifier path does not list private stock as eligible. Shares you can sell and convert to a seasoned cash balance in a regulated account are the cleaner route.
Do I need my RSU history to buy a rental property?
No. A rental-property loan looks mainly at whether the property’s rent covers its payment, subject to lender guidelines. Your vested stock matters for the down payment, closing funds, and reserves. If you want the stock itself to qualify you for an investment property, the depletion path allows it at lower leverage.
Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage in California page presents the program for California borrowers.
About Lendmire
Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a mortgage brokerage serving self-employed and high-net-worth borrowers in 16 states. Bank statement, P&L-only, 1099-only and asset-based mortgages are arranged through wholesale lending channels; Lendmire brokers the financing and the lender underwrites each application. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.
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References
2. Fannie Mae announcement on restricted stock units as eligible income
3. Enact: Underwriting loans with restricted stock units as income
4. Empower: Understanding RSUs and how restricted stock units work
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 a New Mexico Trust Beneficiary Qualify for a Mortgage on Trust Assets? · Can a Michigan Widow Qualify for a Mortgage on Life Insurance and Retirement Assets? · Can a Georgia Trust Beneficiary Qualify for a Mortgage on Trust Assets?
Guides: Asset-Based Mortgage in California
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
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Important disclosures. Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a licensed mortgage brokerage. Lendmire is not a direct lender, depository institution, or financial advisor. All loan inquiries are subject to lender underwriting; this article does not constitute a commitment to lend. Rates, terms, and program guidelines are subject to change without notice and vary by borrower profile, property type, and state. Information in this article is general in nature and is not financial, legal, or tax advice. Equal Housing Opportunity. NMLS Consumer Access: nmlsconsumeraccess.org.