Asset Depletion Loans in Seattle: Qualifying Without a Paystub

An asset depletion loan in Seattle converts your liquid assets, retirement and brokerage balances included, into monthly qualifying income by dividing eligible funds across a set number of months. Buyers with strong savings but little income on paper may qualify this way, subject to qualification.

Picture a founder who sold a South Lake Union startup last spring and now wants a view condo above Lake Union. The brokerage account could buy the place twice over, yet the tax return shows almost no income, because the salary ended with the sale. On paper, this buyer looks broke. Across the desk, they are one of the strongest files I will see all year, and an asset depletion loan is often the tool that closes that gap.

A note before we start. Whether to hold, spend, or borrow against your assets is a financial-planning decision that belongs with your advisor and your CPA, not with me. My lane is showing you how a lender reads those balances, so you can make the call with the full picture. This guide is educational and is not financial, tax, or legal advice.

What Is an Asset Depletion Loan in Seattle?

An asset depletion loan, sometimes called asset dissipation or asset-based qualifying, lets a lender treat your eligible liquid assets as if they were paychecks. Instead of averaging tax returns, the underwriter divides your documented balances by a set number of months and uses the result as monthly qualifying income, subject to underwriting.

Seattle produces this borrower in volume. Post-exit founders and early startup employees, retired Boeing and Amazon professionals with deep 401(k) accounts, and long-time gig workers who invested well all share the same profile: real wealth, thin reported income. So does anyone whose CPA has optimized their tax filing so well that the return understates what they can actually afford.

Asset depletion is one branch of a larger qualifying tree. The self-employed mortgage overview for Seattle maps the full set of documentation paths, and this piece goes deep on the one that runs through your balance sheet rather than your income statement.

How Does the Asset Depletion Loan Formula Work?

The core formula is short: eligible assets divided by amortization months equals monthly qualifying income. A lender first subtracts the funds you will spend on the down payment, closing costs, and required reserves, because money that leaves at closing cannot also feed the income calculation.

What remains is then discounted before the division. Many programs count only a percentage of stock and mutual-fund balances to absorb market swings, and retirement accounts are often reduced further if you are under age 59 and a half. After the haircuts, the net figure is spread across the program's month count, and that monthly income flows into a normal debt-to-income review alongside any other income you have.

Because every program sets its own haircuts and month counts, the same portfolio can produce very different qualifying income from one lender to the next. Treat the formula as a framework, not a fixed rule, and have your specific accounts run before you shop, subject to qualification.

Agency vs Portfolio Asset Depletion Loans in Seattle

Asset depletion comes in two families, and the difference matters more than most buyers expect. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac allow a version often labeled employment-related assets, described in the Fannie Mae Selling Guide, with tight rules about which assets count and a long divisor. Portfolio lenders offer non-QM versions with a broader asset base and a much shorter divisor, which produces far more monthly income from the same balances.

One compliance point I want on the table early: portfolio asset depletion is a non-agency product. It does not carry the same terms or protections as a Fannie or Freddie loan, down payments often start around 20 to 25 percent, and some programs include prepayment penalties you should see in writing before committing. Programs like these also rotate on and off lender menus, so I confirm what is currently available for your file rather than promising a specific product, subject to change.

Which Assets Count Toward an Asset Depletion Loan in Seattle?

Eligible assets are the ones a lender can see, value, and reasonably expect you to draw on. In practice the list starts with checking, savings, money market, and CD balances, then adds brokerage accounts holding stocks, bonds, and funds, usually at a discount. Retirement accounts count too, with the haircut depending on your age and the program.

The exclusions trip people up more than the inclusions. Watch for these:

• Business operating accounts. Cash your company needs to run is usually off the table, and business-tied funds get extra scrutiny.
• Illiquid interests. Private company stock, partnership stakes, and real estate equity generally do not count, no matter what they are worth.
• Unvested compensation. Unvested RSUs are a different qualifying path entirely, covered in the RSU income guide.
• Recently arrived money. Large deposits need to be sourced and seasoned. A papered startup-sale wire is workable; an unexplained transfer is a problem.
• Crypto. Treatment varies widely by lender, and many exclude it until converted and seasoned in a bank account.

Eligible assets and formulas vary by lender, so this list is the framework rather than a promise. The good news is that documentation is simple compared to a self-employed income file: statements, not tax returns, do most of the talking.

An Illustrative Asset Depletion Loan Example in Seattle

Here is the divisor difference in dollars. Assume a buyer with 1.2 million dollars of eligible liquid assets after setting aside the down payment, closing costs, and reserves. The figures below are illustrative only, dated July 2026, and every real file is confirmed against documented statements and a full loan estimate, subject to qualification.

Same 1.2 million dollars, three very different buyers on paper. The portfolio math is what typically puts a central-Seattle purchase in reach, because prices here run high against the loan limits. King County's 2026 one-unit conforming ceiling is 1,063,750 dollars, above the 832,750 dollar national baseline, per the FHFA conforming loan limit map, and asset-rich buyers shopping Eastlake or Capitol Hill often cross into jumbo territory, where portfolio asset depletion programs tend to live anyway.

When an Asset Depletion Loan in Seattle Is the Wrong Tool

Asset depletion fails predictably in a few situations, and knowing them saves you weeks. If your net worth sits in real estate equity or a business you still own, there may be little left that counts as liquid. If the money arrived recently and cannot be cleanly sourced, it needs seasoning before it can qualify you. And if the same dollars are earmarked for a large down payment, the balance left to divide may produce less income than you expect.

Sometimes the better answer is simpler. A W-2 spouse whose income carries the debt-to-income ratio can make the whole exercise unnecessary, and a younger buyer whose assets sit entirely in retirement accounts may find the agency version unavailable and the portfolio version expensive. In those files I often look first at full-doc or hybrid paths before reaching for the asset-based one.

Combining an Asset Depletion Loan With Bank Statement Income

Asset depletion does not have to carry the file alone. Portfolio programs frequently allow hybrid qualifying, where depleted-asset income stacks on top of bank statement income from an active business, or alongside Social Security, pension, and required-minimum-distribution income for retirees.

The hybrid structure fits two Seattle profiles especially well. The first is the semi-retired consultant whose practice still deposits steady revenue but whose real strength is the portfolio behind it. The second is the retiree whose fixed income covers most of the payment and just needs a supplement, a situation the retirement mortgage options guide covers in full. In both cases the assets close the gap that the income side leaves open, subject to underwriting.

Where an Asset Depletion Loan Fits in the Self-Employed Series

Asset-based qualifying is the fourth leg of the self-employed toolkit on this site, and the surrounding guides complete the picture.

• The foundation. The self-employed mortgage overview for Seattle maps every documentation path and how lenders choose among them.
• The deposit path. The bank statement loan guide qualifies you on 12 to 24 months of deposits when returns understate your income.
• The timing lever. The tax filing strategy guide shows how the years you file shape the income a lender can use.
• The short-history workaround. The two-year rule guide explains when a thin self-employment history pushes a file toward asset-based qualifying.
• The retiree angle. The retirement mortgage options guide covers fixed-income qualifying that pairs naturally with asset depletion.
• The neighborhood foundation. The Eastlake, Seattle home loans hub covers the lakefront corridor where many of these files land.

Frequently Asked Questions About Asset Depletion Loans in Seattle