More Income for Self Employed Borrowers: Use assets/deposits instead of Net Taxable Income to qualify
Self employed borrowers, business owners, startup owners, and entrepreneurs can be some of the hardest borrowers to qualify for a mortgage, although they may have high income and assets available for downpayment.Traditional mortgage guidelines qualify borrowers using net taxable income, which means that clients who have tax returns that show significant deductions and expenses may not be able to demonstrate sufficient income needed to qualify with traditional DTI (debt to income) limits.

There is a new breed of mortgage products that use different criteria to qualify self employed borrowers; by using 12-24 months of bank deposits to demonstrate income rather than net income after deductions, many self employed borrowers are able to qualify for a much higher amount of long-term financing to purchase or refinance their properties. THis is also useful for W2 borrowers who receive commission income, but do not have a full 2 year history with the same company, or whose commission income has rapidly increased in the last 12 months.

These loan types qualify using DTI (debt to income) ratios, so although this more liberal method of calculating income can help, clients with substantial monthly liabilities may need alternative strategies to reach the loan amounts they prefer.

BANK STATEMENT PROGRAMS

12 or 24 months of bank statements are used to show deposit activity. All deposits are added, minus one-time (nonrecurring) type deposits, and an average monthly "income" is calculated. This program requires us to calculate DTI. Transfers cannot be counted, but multiple accounts showing original deposits are allowed. THis type of income may be combined with "regular" wage or tax return income from a coborrower to qualify.

• Personal Statements: 100% of deposits may be counted as income.
• Business Bank Statements: 30-80% of deposits may be counted as income, depending on business type. For instance, a retail business would likely qualify using just 30% of deposits, but a lower overhead business such as a consultant may be able to count up to 80% of deposits as "income". 
• Community Bank Stated Income option: Use stated income to qualify for purchase or refinance, up to $3M loan amount. Requires 25% down.

• Mixed Use Properties: Yes, we have options for mixed use (residential and commercial).
• Investment Property Purchase and Refinance: See our Real Estate investor page--these specialty loan products work extremely well for self employed borrowers and business owners; no tax returns, w2s, or personal income/liabilities are considered in qualification.
• Vesting in LLC or Holding Title in a Corporate Entity: Many of our products allow this for investment properties. A personal guaranty must be executed as part of the loan file.

  ASSET BASED QUALIFICATION

• Can't qualify even with Bank Statement Deposits? We have other methods including adding a cosigner, using assets only to qualify (divide assets by as few as 84 months to create "virtual" income or show assets equal to loan amount, without having to pledge or liquidate.