Three separate calculations can produce a retired buyer's qualifying income, and they produce very different numbers. Most retirees are quoted the weakest one because the lender ran the obvious calculation and stopped.
Bellasera sits in far north Scottsdale toward Cave Creek, and its buyer pool skews heavily toward people living on distributions and assets rather than a paycheck. Running all three is the difference between the home you want and the one the first quote allowed.
The three calculations
1. Fixed income, grossed up. Social Security, pension and certain annuity income that is untaxed or partly untaxed can commonly be grossed up for qualifying, because a lender compares your spending power against a payment made with after-tax dollars. Percentages vary by program and by how much of the income is genuinely non-taxable. The effect is real and routinely left on the table. Document with award letters, statements showing receipt, and tax documents showing treatment.
2. Retirement distribution income. Withdrawals from IRA, 401k or similar accounts count subject to two conditions: a documented history of receipt, and continuance, meaning evidence the account sustains the withdrawals forward, commonly three years or more.
This is the one that surprises people. Having a large retirement account does not produce distribution income. Taking documented, regular distributions does. If you have not started and are planning a purchase, speak to your lender and your advisor well before you write, because starting changes what you qualify for and carries tax consequences worth planning.
3. Asset depletion. Verified liquid assets converted into a monthly figure, ignoring your actual income. For a retiree with substantial assets and modest reported income this frequently produces the largest number of the three. Retirement accounts are typically discounted, often more heavily than taxable brokerage, and pledged assets generally do not count.
Run all three. A lender quoting on Social Security alone has done a quarter of the work.
What Bellasera adds
Bellasera is a gated community in far north Scottsdale near the Cave Creek boundary, Tuscan-influenced architecture, with a community center, pools and tennis, and a strong seasonal and retired resident base.
No mandatory private club obligation of the kind the north Scottsdale equity golf clubs carry. That is genuinely favorable: nothing from a club lands on your ratio, and no initiation deposit drains the balance an asset depletion calculation runs on. Confirm for your address, but this is one fewer thing working against you than at Terravita or Desert Mountain. The mechanics of when a club does count are in How a Scottsdale Golf Club Membership Affects Your Mortgage Approval.
The association stack still counts, and it is not fixed. Community dues go into your housing expense before an underwriter tests your ratio, and they rise over time independently of your mortgage. A fixed rate payment is stable; the obligations around it are not. Ask for the assessment history and reserve study, because a thin reserve today is a special assessment tomorrow, and on a fixed income that lands hard. See HOA Dues, Club Dues and Assessments.
Occupancy. Many buyers here are seasonal. A second home rather than a primary residence changes your down payment and pricing, and means qualifying while carrying both housing payments with reserves on both. See Second Home or Investment Property in Scottsdale.
Far north property questions. Well water and septic appear on parcels in this area and carry their own inspections and documentation on some programs. Ask about the specific parcel.
Price band spans the conforming line, so which side you land on changes your reserve requirement and ratio tolerance. For a retiree where assets are the whole case, that reserve question is sharper than usual. See Jumbo Loans in Scottsdale.
A note on age
A lender may not decline you or reduce your terms because of your age. That is the law, and worth stating plainly because older buyers are sometimes made to feel otherwise.
What a lender may do is require documentation that your income continues for a defined period. That is a continuance test applied to the income source, not to you, and it applies identically to a thirty-five year old with variable income.
When none of the three clears
No-ratio. No debt-to-income test at all. Often the clean answer for a retiree with a strong balance sheet and complicated income.
A larger down payment, weighed against the reserve requirement, because spending reserves to fix a ratio breaks the other test and on a depletion file also shrinks your qualifying income.
Non-QM and no-ratio price differently than agency financing. If a conventional or jumbo loan works on any of the three, take it.
Before you write in Bellasera
- Bring all three income pictures: award letters, distribution history and balances, and full asset statements.
- If you have not started distributions, talk to your lender and advisor first.
- Get the association budget, reserve study and assessment history, not just the dues figure.
- Decide occupancy honestly and size the down payment to it.
- Ask about well and septic on the parcel.
- Get fully underwritten, not pre-qualified. A pre-qualification usually runs only the simplest of the three.
Why bring this file to us
- We run all three calculations and use whichever supports the house. That single habit changes retiree approvals more than anything else we do.
- Broker model. Gross-up treatment, continuance rules and depletion divisors vary meaningfully between investors.
- The full toolkit, agency and jumbo through asset depletion and no-ratio non-QM.
- You talk to the principal. Ricky Khamis is President of EPiQ Lending, NMLS #173141, lending in Arizona since 1999 and a 2025 Presidents Club Winner at CMG Home Loans. 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 your award letters, distribution history and asset statements and I will run all three and tell you which buys the most house.
Equal Housing Opportunity. This is general information, not a commitment to lend or an offer to extend credit. Gross-up percentages, distribution continuance requirements and asset depletion calculations vary by investor and change over time. Association obligations vary by community; confirm current terms with the association. Rates, terms, and program guidelines change and depend on credit approval, property appraisal, and other qualifying factors. Not all applicants will qualify. Non-QM and no-ratio financing carries different pricing and terms than agency financing. Consult your tax advisor before beginning or changing retirement account distributions.
Looking at a specific home? Send me the address and I will run the numbers: rickykhamis.com/analyze
