The Quick Read: The cash you receive depends on the property, not the account: on the asset depletion path, cash-out is capped at 60% of appraised value, and your cash is that amount minus your payoff and closing costs, so a bigger brokerage balance helps you qualify but never raises the cash. The depletion path turns eligible assets into monthly qualifying income. The other route, the asset qualifier path, lets assets cover the whole loan instead.
- The property sizes the cash. On the depletion path the ceiling is 60% on a cash-out refinance, whether the property is a primary residence, second home or investment property, subject to underwriting.
- The account sizes the loan you can qualify for. Securities count at 80% on the depletion path and brokerage accounts at 100% on the qualifier path.
- Rentals use the depletion path only. Investment property is not eligible on the qualifier path.
- Qualifier-path cash-out terms are set by the lender and are not published. Any figure quoted for that route should be treated as unconfirmed until a lender states it.
- Thin equity means thin cash. When your payoff already sits near 60% of value, little or nothing comes back.
How the Cash Figure Is Built
The cash you receive equals the property’s appraised value times the maximum cash-out percentage, minus your existing payoff, minus closing costs. Your brokerage account never appears in that formula. It only decides whether you qualify at all. Terms depend on the lender’s guidelines, the property type, the leverage, and a full review of the credit profile.
Here is why the account stays out of the math. A lender sizes any cash-out refinance against the collateral first. The appraisal sets the value, the program sets the percentage, and what is left after your old loan is the most that can come out. On the depletion path, through select programs in Lendmire’s wholesale network, that percentage is 60%.
Run it in percentages of value, since the appraisal is the only dollar figure that matters. Say your payoff equals 40% of the appraised value. The 60% ceiling leaves about 20% of value before closing costs. Say your payoff equals 55% instead. Only about 5% of value remains before costs, and costs can take most of it.
At a payoff of 60% or more, there is no cash to take. A large portfolio does not change that. The property is the collateral, and the account is the qualification.
This is the point many cash-heavy borrowers miss. A million-dollar portfolio qualifies you for the loan. It does not buy you a million dollars of cash.
Key Terms Defined
Six terms come up repeatedly below. Each is defined once here.
- Cash-out refinance: a new loan larger than your current payoff, with the difference paid to you as cash. A refinance on a paid-off property counts as cash-out, because the new loan is not replacing any mortgage balance.
- Asset qualifier path: the route where eligible assets, after the credit percentages, must equal or exceed the entire loan amount. No employment or income is documented.
- Asset depletion path: the route where usable assets divided by 60 months become monthly qualifying income. That income must then carry the full housing payment and your other debts.
- Debt-to-income (DTI) test: the check that your monthly debts, including the new loan, fit inside your qualifying income.
- Haircut: the part of an asset’s balance that does not count. Securities count at 80%, so the haircut is the other 20%.
- Seasoning: how long funds must sit in your accounts, documented by statements, before they count.
Which Path Fits You?
You qualify on one path at a time, and the figures never blend. The qualifier path suits borrowers whose assets can cover the loan outright. The depletion path suits borrowers whose assets are large but would not cover the whole loan, or who want a rental financed.
| Factor | Asset Qualifier | Asset Depletion |
|---|---|---|
| How you qualify | Assets cover entire loan | Assets ÷ 60 months = income |
| Brokerage credit | 100% | Securities at 80% |
| Purchase leverage | 80% (home) | 80% home, 65% rental |
| Refinance leverage | 75% (home) | 80% home, 65% rental (rate-and-term) |
| Cash-out leverage | Lender-set, unpublished | 60%, all property types |
| Loan amounts | Up to $4,000,000 | $125,000 to $3,500,000 |
Read the leverage rows with care. On the qualifier path, 80% applies to a purchase and 75% to a refinance, on a principal residence or second home. On the depletion path, a rate-and-term refinance gets 80% on a principal residence or second home and 65% on an investment property.
The 60% cash-out figure belongs to the depletion path, where it is the ceiling on a cash-out refinance for every property type. Nothing in the qualifier column promises cash-out proceeds. Whether that path allows them, and at what leverage, is the lender’s call. Final terms depend on the lender’s guidelines, the property type, and the borrower’s complete credit picture.
For a retiree or a business seller, the practical split is simple. If your eligible balances exceed the whole loan, the qualifier path avoids the income calculation entirely. If they do not, the depletion path converts what you have into income. Programs differ across lenders, and every file is underwritten individually.
How Much of the Brokerage Account Actually Counts?
On the qualifier path, a brokerage account counts at 100% of its balance. On the depletion path, securities count at 80%. Retirement accounts, cash and real-estate equity each carry their own percentage, and the path decides which table applies.
Qualifier path credit. Brokerage accounts, certificates of deposit, money market and savings all count at 100%. Retirement balances count at 90% under age 59½ and 100% at 59½ or older. Accounts combine.
Consider an $800,000 loan on this path. Brokerage accounts of $330,000 count at 100%, which is $330,000. A 401(k) of $300,000 under 59½ counts at 90%, which is $270,000. Savings of $200,000 count at 100%, which is $200,000. That totals $800,000 of usable assets, so the file is reviewed on assets alone. This is an illustration, and the lender’s own calculation governs.
Depletion path credit. Cash accounts and certificates of deposit count at 100%. Securities count at 80%, retirement accounts at 70% at any age, and real-estate equity at 60%.
Take $1,500,000 in securities, which counts at 80% for $1,200,000. Add $300,000 in cash at 100%. That is $1,500,000 usable. Divided by 60 months, it produces $25,000 of monthly qualifying income. That income then has to carry the housing payment and other debts through the DTI test. The figures are illustrative.
Four rules decide whether a balance counts on the depletion path:
- Minimum assets. Qualified assets must be at least the lesser of $1,000,000 or 1.25 times the loan balance. When asset income is your only income, liquid assets can never fall below $250,000.
- Supplementing income. Asset-derived income can also supplement documented income up to a 45% DTI. When it does, the minimum-assets rule is waived.
- Seasoning. Statements must be at least 120 days old at application, with the most recent one dated within 45 days. Sale-of-business, inheritance and legal-settlement funds are excused from that seasoning.
- Credit. The depletion path follows the lender’s score and loan-amount matrix, and a first-time investor needs 700.
On the qualifier path, the seasoning is 60 days, with two months of statements for each qualifying account. The credit floor is 600. No reserves are required at or below 75% loan-to-value, and the lender sets them above that. Housing history is reviewed at 0x30x12, and one 30-day late in the last twelve months is considered case by case. Multiple bankruptcies are not eligible.
Both paths document the assets. “No income documentation” never means “no documentation.” The qualifier path asks for no traditional personal-income documentation, pay stubs or employment verification, but the statements are fully reviewed.
Does the Portfolio Get Sold?
No. On the depletion path, the dividing-by-60 step is a calculation, not a sale. Your securities stay invested, and a lender never liquidates them to fund the loan.
That has a practical benefit. You keep the portfolio working while the property provides the cash. Tax treatment varies; consult a qualified professional.
One firm limit applies. Cash-out proceeds never count as qualifying assets, so the money you pull from the property cannot be redeployed as reserves or as part of your qualifying balance.
Four Scenarios, Run in Percentages
These scenarios use percentages of appraised value because the appraisal, not the account, sets the cash.
A rental owner with comfortable equity. Picture an investor whose rental carries a payoff of 40% of value. On the depletion path, the 60% cash-out ceiling for investment property leaves about 20% of value before closing costs. The portfolio must still meet the minimum-assets rule and carry the larger loan through DTI. The exact numbers vary by lender and program and follow a full review of property, leverage, and credit.
An owner with thin equity. Say your payoff sits at 55% of value. About 5% of value remains before costs. The loan becomes mostly a swap of old debt for new, so the cash may not justify the closing costs.
A paid-off home. Consider a second home with no mortgage. The refinance is still classed as cash-out, so the 60% depletion-path ceiling applies. Cash is roughly 60% of value minus closing costs. A lien-free property gives you the largest cash result the program allows.
A founder who sold a company. Privately held company stock is not an eligible asset on either path. The documented route is converting the position into a seasoned cash balance. Sale proceeds from a buyout are excused from the 120-day statement seasoning on the depletion path. After that, the cash counts at 100%, and any public securities and retirement accounts count at their percentages.
What Shrinks Your Cash
Five things reduce what lands in your account, and the lowest binding limit wins:
1. The cash-out ceiling. On the depletion path, 60% of appraised value caps the loan.
2. Your payoff. Every dollar of existing mortgage comes out of that ceiling first.
3. Closing costs. These come out of the proceeds too.
4. DTI. On the depletion path, a bigger balance must fit your derived income. A rental offers no rent fallback on this loan, so the balance has to work on asset income alone.
5. Ineligible assets. Some balances do not count at all and shrink what you qualify for.
Ineligible items on the depletion path include custodial accounts, deferred compensation, escrow accounts, foreign funds, cash on hand, privately held stock, stock options, non-vested restricted stock units and funds from non-regulated financial companies. Cryptocurrency, precious metals, collectibles and pledged or borrowed funds are not published as eligible on either path. Converting them to a seasoned cash balance in a regulated account is the documented route, and the lender reviews the source.
A second lien on the property can also change the picture. Paying off a non-purchase-money second mortgage usually makes the new loan a cash-out refinance, even when no cash comes back to you.
Why a Rental Runs Differently
A refinance on an investment property is a business-purpose loan, and a business-purpose loan is reviewed differently from a standard owner-occupied mortgage. On a principal residence or second home, the loan is a consumer mortgage.
Consumer mortgages sit under the federal ability-to-repay framework, which the CFPB’s small entity compliance guide lays out. Business-purpose loans fall outside that consumer framework. Freddie Mac’s guide bulletin states that definition in terms of the Truth in Lending Act exemption.
This distinction does not make the file lighter. Every asset-based file is fully underwritten, the assets are documented with statements, and the depletion path still runs the DTI test on a rental. The lender’s own guidelines decide how each loan is reviewed.
Borrow Against It or Sell It?
Asset-based cash-out suits borrowers with large balances and thin or uneven income. It keeps the portfolio invested and puts cash to work from the property. The tradeoff is a bigger loan balance, and it has to fit asset-based income through the DTI test on the depletion path.
A DSCR cash-out refinance is a different product. It sizes on a rental’s income coverage and typically allows more leverage than 60% when the property covers its own payment. It suits a rental that cash-flows well, though lender guidelines govern the details. The asset-based route is the lower-leverage alternative for borrowers whose rent does not carry the loan.
A property purchased recently adds a separate question. How soon after a cash purchase or recent acquisition a property can be cash-out refinanced depends on program guidelines, and the seasoning on your accounts is a different clock from the seasoning on the property. Ask about both before you plan around a specific cash number.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a bigger brokerage balance mean more cash out?
No. A bigger balance helps you qualify, and it can raise the loan size you can support through the DTI test or asset coverage. The cash itself is capped by the property’s appraised value, the program’s cash-out percentage and your existing payoff. Once you clear qualification, the property becomes the limit.
What is the cash-out ceiling on a rental property?
On a cash-out refinance of an investment property, the depletion path caps the loan at 60% of appraised value, through select programs and subject to underwriting. Rentals are eligible only on the depletion path. That ceiling is a maximum, and your payoff and closing costs come out of it before any cash reaches you.
Do I have to sell my stocks to use them?
No. The depletion path divides your eligible balance by 60 months to create qualifying income. That is a calculation, so your securities stay invested. The statements must show the balances, and securities count at 80% of their value.
Can I use the cash I pull out as reserves or qualifying assets?
No. Cash-out proceeds never count as qualifying assets on the depletion path, and the cash cannot be recycled into your own qualifying balance. Any funds you need counted must already be documented in your accounts before the refinance.
Does privately held company stock count toward qualifying?
No. A founder or shareholder qualifies through documented liquid assets instead, such as seasoned proceeds from a sale or conversion, cash, public securities and retirement accounts at their percentages.
Next Step
If you are qualifying on assets rather than income and want to see how the numbers work, Lendmire can help you compare asset-based mortgage programs based on your statements, the property, credit profile, leverage, and your goals. Lendmire is a mortgage broker that places these loans through select lenders in its wholesale network, with consumer mortgage lending licensed in 16 states. Every parameter above is a ceiling or floor, not an offer, and each file is subject to underwriting and lender guidelines.
The cash a portfolio unlocks is set by the property’s equity, so running the appraisal-minus-payoff math before you pick a path shows what to expect.
A deeper walk-through of investment-property equity extraction lives in Lendmire’s guide to cash-out refinance on an investment property.
About Lendmire
Lendmire, NMLS# 2371349, is a mortgage brokerage with consumer lending licenses in 16 states. Bank statement, P&L-only, 1099-only and asset-based mortgages are arranged through wholesale lending partners for borrowers whose tax returns understate their income, and each application is reviewed individually by the lender. Scotsman Guide named Lendmire a Top Mortgage Workplace in both 2025 and 2026.
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References
1. CFPB ATR/QM Small Entity Compliance Guide
2. Freddie Mac Guide Bulletin on business-purpose loans
This article is part of Lendmire’s asset-based mortgage program — full qualification details, guidelines, and scenarios live on the program page.
Related reading: How Lenders Underwrite an Asset-Based Cash-Out Refinance After Selling a Business · How to Qualify and Apply for an Asset-Based Cash-Out Refinance as a Retiree · Best Asset-Based Cash-Out Refinance Program Without a Mortgage
Brandon Miller
Founder & CEO, Mortgage Loan Originator, Lendmire LLC
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- Lendmire LLC · Firm NMLS# 2371349 · Verify firm licensure
Legal disclosures. Lendmire (NMLS# 2371349) is a state-licensed mortgage brokerage that arranges financing through wholesale lender relationships. Lendmire is not a direct lender, depository institution, or registered financial advisor. The discussion above is general informational content about real estate financing — it is not financial, legal, or tax advice, and readers should consult licensed professionals for guidance on their individual circumstances. Loan inquiries are subject to lender underwriting; this article does not represent a commitment to lend. Loan terms, rates, and qualification standards vary by borrower, property, and state, and are subject to change at any time. Equal Housing Opportunity. NMLS Consumer Access: nmlsconsumeraccess.org.