After the Business Sale: Buying a Home in the Year You Have No Income

The wire cleared. After years of building it, the company is somebody else's problem and the money is yours.

And you are, as far as a mortgage underwriting system is concerned, unemployed with no income.

It is a genuinely strange year, and it is entirely financeable if the file is built correctly and in the right order.

Sale proceeds count, with documentation

From CMG Financial's Non-QM Sharp Series guidelines (NMLS #1820, revised 09/21/2026), within the qualifying asset definitions:

Sale of a business asset is permitted with the final settlement statement and evidence of funds deposited.

And alongside it: sale of real estate owned with a copy of the final closing disclosure and evidence of funds deposited.

So the proceeds are eligible. The two requirements are the settlement statement and evidence the funds were deposited. Have both organized before you apply, in a form a stranger can follow: the executed document, and the statement showing the money arriving.

That sounds obvious and it is where these files stall, because sale structures are rarely simple. Escrowed holdbacks, earnouts, notes carried back to the buyer, equity rolled into the acquiring entity: none of that is cash sitting in an account, and only the part that landed and is documented counts today.

The exclusion that catches sellers

Business assets are not permitted.

Money still held inside the operating entity, or in an entity you control that is not personal, does not count as a qualifying asset on these programs. It has to be yours, personally, and documented.

If proceeds are sitting in a holding company pending a distribution decision, that timing is now a mortgage decision as well as a tax one. Talk to your accountant about the sequence, because the calculation runs on what is in your personal accounts.

Foreign assets are not permitted either, which matters if part of the consideration sits offshore.

The 120 day seasoning rule

Assets used for qualifying must be seasoned for 120 days unless pre-approved by the investor.

Roughly four months. For a recently closed sale, that is the clock.

Two practical consequences. If the wire landed last month, plan the purchase around that seasoning window or raise the pre-approval possibility with the investor early. And if you know a sale is closing, start the conversation before it does, so the seasoning runs while you are shopping rather than after you are under contract.

What your portfolio actually produces

Haircuts by account type, applied to net assets:

• 100% checking, savings and money market
• 100% life insurance and annuity cash surrender value
• 80% stocks, bonds and mutual funds
• 70% all vested retirement assets
• 60% Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency, with documentation proving ownership and a valuation sourced exclusively from Coinbase, dated within 30 days of the note date

A seller immediately post-close is usually sitting heavily in cash or short-term instruments, which is the best possible position for this calculation, since checking, savings and money market count at 100%.

That is a genuine timing advantage. Deploy the proceeds into a diversified portfolio first and a meaningful share of it starts counting at 80%. Buy the house first, at 100%, and invest afterward. Worth a conversation with your advisor, and the order is worth real money.

Then the arithmetic

Asset depletion: qualifying assets divided by 84 months becomes your monthly income, on a seven year utilization draw schedule, and you are then tested on a debt-to-income ratio. Asset requirement: the lesser of $1 million in qualifying assets or 125% of the original loan amount.

Asset qualifier: qualifying assets divided by 84, minus total monthly debt, produces residual income, which must clear $1,500 for one person, $2,500 for two, plus $150 per additional household member. Asset requirement: total post-closing assets of at least 125% of the original loan amount.

Across both, a floor of $450,000 in qualifying assets, maximum 85% loan-to-value, minimum 700 FICO, and reserves are not required.

And remove your closing funds before you calculate. Assets used for down payment or costs to close must be excluded from the balance before analyzing the portfolio for income qualification.

The employment income problem

A borrower using asset depletion or asset qualifier cannot use other sources of employment income. Non-employment sources are considered case by case.

This catches a specific and very common situation: the seller who stayed on under a transition services agreement or a consulting arrangement for twelve months post-close.

You cannot stack that income on top of the asset calculation. It is one or the other. Which means if the consulting income alone would qualify you under full documentation, that may be the better route. If it would not, the asset route is available but the consulting income adds nothing to it.

Run both before you choose, and understand that the answer may change once the transition agreement ends.

The other restrictions

• Owner occupied only. Non-owner occupied and second homes are not permitted.
• No cash-out.
• No gift funds.
• No non-occupant co-borrowers.
• Not eligible on the Sharp Standard tier. You need Sharp Premium (36 months or more clean, 1x30x12) or Sharp Expanded (48 months or more, 0x30x12).

If you are still holding equity in the buyer

Rolled equity, an earnout, or a seller note is not a qualifying asset. It is a receivable.

That does not make the file impossible, it makes the timing matter. The cash portion is what counts, and if that portion alone does not reach the thresholds, you are either waiting for the earnout to land or looking at a different structure.

Say this out loud with your lender early. A file built on the headline sale price and decisioned on the cash actually received is a file that falls apart in week five.

The sequence that works

1. Get the settlement statement and the deposit evidence organized on day one.
2. Confirm which proceeds are personally held and which sit in an entity.
3. Count the 120 day seasoning window from the date funds landed.
4. Decide, with your advisor, whether to buy before or after deploying the cash, since cash counts at 100% and securities at 80%.
5. Choose between the asset route and any transition or consulting income. You cannot use both.
6. Run asset depletion and asset qualifier, and take the one your file clears.

Common questions

Can I buy a house right after selling my business? Yes, through asset based qualification. Sale of a business asset counts toward qualifying assets with the final settlement statement and evidence of funds deposited.

How long do the proceeds need to sit in my account? Assets used for qualifying must be seasoned 120 days unless pre-approved by the investor.

Do funds still held in my company count? No. Business assets are not permitted. The money has to be personally held and documented. Foreign assets are not permitted either.

Should I invest the proceeds before or after buying? Cash, checking, savings and money market count at 100%, while stocks, bonds and mutual funds count at 80%. Buying before deploying the cash frequently produces a higher qualifying figure. Discuss the timing with your advisor.

I am consulting for the buyer during the transition. Can I use that income too? Not alongside an asset based program. A borrower using asset depletion or asset qualifier cannot use other sources of employment income, so it is one route or the other.

Does my earnout count? Not as a qualifying asset. Only proceeds actually received and documented count, which is why the cash portion of the deal governs the timing of a purchase.

Related reading

• Asset based and no-income home loans, the full index for this topic
• Asset Based Home Loan FAQ: Qualifying With Assets Instead of Income
• Asset Depletion or Asset Qualifier: Two Programs, Two Completely Different Tests
• Retired With No Paycheck: The Three Ways a Lender Can Build You an Income

Why bring this file to us

• We document the sale correctly. The settlement statement and evidence of deposit are what turn proceeds into qualifying assets.
• We handle the timing. Seasoning and the transition out of employment income both have dates on them, and the order matters.
• We flag the exclusions early, including business assets and foreign assets, which catch sellers more than anyone.
• Broker model. Multiple investors rather than one bank's shelf, which is what a file like this needs when the first answer is no.
• You talk to the principal. Ricky Khamis is President of EPiQ Lending and a Certified Mortgage Planner, NMLS #173141, originating mortgages since 1999. Direct line: (480) 999-9842.

EPiQ Lending is NMLS #1936984, at 7975 N. Hayden Road, Suite A-101 in Scottsdale. Verify all of it before you trust any of it: Ricky's EPiQ Lending profile, the Scottsdale branch, and the license itself at NMLS Consumer Access. Hold every lender to that standard, including us.

Send me the settlement statement and where the money landed, and I will tell you how much of it the calculation will actually count.

Program figures in this post come from the CMG Financial (NMLS #1820) guideline set named above, as published on the revision date given. CMG Financial is the parent company of EPiQ Lending. These figures describe one investor's program at one point in time. Other investors price and underwrite the same borrower differently, guidelines change without notice, and nothing here is an offer of any specific program or terms. Confirm current eligibility on your own file before you plan around any of it.

Equal Housing Opportunity. This is general information, not a commitment to lend or an offer to extend credit. Rates, terms, and program guidelines change and depend on credit approval, property appraisal, income and asset verification, and other qualifying factors. Not all applicants will qualify. Non-QM, asset-based and business purpose financing carry different pricing, terms and consumer protections than agency financing. Consult your tax advisor regarding the tax treatment of any income or distribution strategy.