Asset Depletion Loans in Oregon and California: How to Turn Savings, Investments, and Retirement Into Mortgage-Qualifying Income (2026)

What Is an Asset Depletion (Assets-as-Income) Loan?

An asset depletion loan is a mortgage that qualifies you based on the assets you own rather than the income you earn. Instead of asking "how much do you make each month," the lender asks "how much do you have," then converts that balance into a monthly income stream by dividing it across a number of months. You don't actually spend down or "deplete" the account — the term simply describes the math. Your money stays invested; the calculation just treats a portion of it as if it were monthly income for qualifying purposes. This is the natural fit for buyers whose wealth lives in accounts rather than in a W-2: retirees drawing down nothing yet, early retirees not yet taking distributions, founders between companies, and high-net-worth buyers who live off investments. It's a cornerstone of non-QM (non-qualified mortgage) lending, and our asset depletion loan program pairs naturally with the other no-tax-return programs we run for self-employed and investor borrowers. You can model your qualifying income with our assets-as-income calculator before you ever call a lender.

How Does Asset Depletion Income Work? The Three Calculations

Here's what most borrowers never learn: there is no single asset depletion formula. The monthly income your assets produce depends entirely on which program a lender uses — and the difference is enormous. Lumen Mortgage runs the two portfolio calculations that produce the strongest results, and we'll always compare them against the Fannie Mae agency method so you can see the full picture. 1. The Lumen 36-Month Program. Our most powerful asset calculation divides your eligible assets by just 36 months. It counts 100% of your non-retirement assets — checking, savings, money market, and brokerage accounts — plus your retirement accounts at 100% if you're of retirement age (59½ or older) or 90% if you're younger, to account for early-withdrawal treatment. Dividing by 36 produces the highest monthly qualifying income of any asset method, which makes it the go-to for buyers who need their assets to stretch furthest. 2. The Lumen 60-Month Program. Our 60-month program counts 100% of all your assets — with no age-based reduction on retirement funds — and divides by 60. It produces a lower monthly figure than the 36-month path, but its all-assets-at-full-value treatment and straightforward structure make it the right fit for many borrowers, particularly those with large balances who don't need the shortest possible divisor to qualify. 3. The Fannie Mae Method (Employment-Related Assets). The conventional agency approach — Fannie Mae's "employment-related assets as qualifying income" — is dramatically more conservative on every axis. It divides your net eligible assets by the full loan term in months (360 for a 30-year loan). Before dividing, it subtracts any early-withdrawal penalty that would apply, and it subtracts the funds you need for your down payment, closing costs, and reserves. It also restricts which assets count: retirement accounts you can access and documented lump-sum retirement or severance distributions qualify, but ordinary checking and savings generally don't unless the balance came from an eligible source, and it excludes stock options, non-vested stock, inheritance, lawsuit and real-estate-sale proceeds, and cryptocurrency entirely. It's capped at 70% loan-to-value (80% if the asset owner is at least 62 at closing) and is available only for a purchase or a limited cash-out refinance on a primary residence or second home.

Comparison reflects general program frameworks as of 2026. Final eligibility and qualifying income are determined by the underwriter. NMLS #1498678.

How Much Can You Qualify For? A Worked Oregon–California Example

Consider a recently retired couple selling a longtime Bay Area home and relocating to Ashland, Oregon for the theater, the climate, and the pace. After the sale they hold roughly $800,000 in brokerage and savings and $1,700,000 in retirement accounts — $2,500,000 in total investable assets — and both are over 59½. Watch what the same $2.5M produces: • Lumen 36-month: $2,500,000 ÷ 36 = $69,444/month (~$833,000/year) • Lumen 60-month: $2,500,000 ÷ 60 = $41,667/month (~$500,000/year) • Fannie Mae: roughly ($2,500,000 − ~$150,000 funds to close) ÷ 360 = about $6,500/month (~$78,000/year) Same couple, same accounts, same house — three completely different qualifying incomes. And the agency figure is often lower still, because Fannie Mae's eligibility rules would likely exclude much of that $800,000 in ordinary brokerage and savings, leaving only the retirement balance in the calculation. The portfolio programs count it all. That gap is the entire reason asset-rich buyers should never let a single conventional "no" define what they can afford. Model your own numbers with our calculator before you assume anything.

Which Assets Count — and Which Don't

Not every dollar on your statement qualifies, and the rules differ by program. The table below shows the broad strokes. The practical takeaway: if a meaningful share of your wealth sits in taxable brokerage or cash rather than retirement accounts, a portfolio program will almost always qualify you for far more than the agency method — because it actually counts those dollars.

Who Asset Depletion Loans Are Best For

Retirees and near-retirees. If you've stopped working but your accounts are healthy, asset depletion lets you buy without drawing down or triggering unnecessary taxable distributions. It's the mechanism behind our IRA-loan approach, and it's the most common no-paycheck path for buyers over 60. Asset-rich, income-light buyers. Early retirees, people living off investments, and anyone whose tax return understates their real financial strength. Business owners between ventures. Sold a company, taking a year off, or reinvesting — your bank shows deposits are lumpy or paused even though your net worth is substantial. Buyers pairing assets with some income. Asset income can be added to Social Security, a pension, or part-time W-2 earnings to bridge a qualifying gap. Our calculator lets you layer other monthly income on top of the asset figure.

Why This Matters in Oregon and California

These two states concentrate exactly the buyers asset depletion was built for — and the housing to match. In Oregon, the retiree and second-home magnets are where this shines: Bend and Central Oregon, Ashland and the Rogue Valley, Lake Oswego and West Linn, and the Oregon coast from Cannon Beach down through Brookings and the South Coast, where out-of-state buyers routinely arrive with strong portfolios and no local paycheck. Wine-country buyers across the Willamette Valley and Southern Oregon fit the same profile. Many are relocating from higher-cost markets, cash in hand from a sale, and simply need a lender who measures wealth correctly. In California, the pattern is even sharper. Bay Area and Peninsula sellers cashing out decades of appreciation, Silicon Valley wealth held in brokerage and vested equity, Napa and Sonoma wine-country buyers, Palm Springs and the Coachella Valley retirees and second-home purchasers, and coastal buyers from San Diego to Orange County to the North Coast — including our own Del Norte and Crescent City market — are overwhelmingly asset-rich. A traditional-only lender shrinks these buyers to their smallest number; an asset-based lender sizes the loan to their actual balance sheet. Lumen Mortgage is licensed in both states (NMLS #1498678) and structures these loans every month.

Asset Depletion vs. Bank Statement vs. Traditional: Which No-Tax-Return Path Fits?

Asset depletion is one of several ways to qualify without tax returns, and the right one depends on where your strength lives: • Assets are your strength → asset depletion / assets-as-income (this guide) • Business cash flow is your strength → a bank statement loan qualifies you on 12–24 months of deposits — see our bank statement loans in Oregon and California, or estimate your income • You're buying a rental → a DSCR loan qualifies on the property's rent, not you • Income is mixed → combine asset income with bank-statement, 1099, or other income in a single file, and check your ratios with the DTI calculator Many of our strongest approvals blend two of these. A semi-retired consultant, for instance, might pair asset income with a partial bank-statement calculation to clear a jumbo purchase — a path we walk through in our jumbo self-employed guide. And for retirees leaning on retirement balances specifically, our IRA-loan scenarios show the 36-month divisor in action.

Model Your Qualifying Income

Enter your savings, investments, and retirement balances once and see all three calculations side by side — the Lumen 36-month, the Lumen 60-month, and the Fannie Mae method — with your qualifying monthly and annual income for each. Toggle retirement age, loan term, and funds-to-close to see exactly how the numbers move, and layer in any other monthly income you have.

How to Prepare for an Asset-Based Application

A little organization makes these loans move fast. Gather two to three months of statements for every account you want to count, clean and complete. Loop in your financial advisor early so account titling and accessibility are sorted before application. Know which accounts are retirement versus taxable, since the treatment differs. Identify the funds you'll use for your down payment, closing costs, and reserves separately from the assets you're qualifying on. And start the conversation before you shop — we'll run your balances across all three calculations, tell you the price range you can actually buy in, and issue a pre-approval strong enough to compete, so you're negotiating from your real number rather than a conventional lender's smallest one.