Three separate calculations can produce a retired buyer's qualifying income, and they produce very different numbers. Most retirees are quoted the weakest because the lender ran the obvious one and stopped.
The Boulders sits just north of Scottsdale in Carefree, a resort and golf community whose 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 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, evidence the account sustains the withdrawals forward, commonly three years or more.
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, talk 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 The Boulders adds
The Boulders is built around the granite formations the community is named for, with a resort, golf, and a mix of custom homes, patio homes and attached villa product.
Resort-adjacent product raises the condotel question. This matters more here than at a standard golf community. A project with a front desk, daily housekeeping, rental desk services or mandatory rental pooling can be classified as a condotel and fall outside agency financing entirely. Where residential product sits alongside or within a resort operation, ask directly and early what services the project provides and whether a rental program operates. See Scottsdale Luxury Condo Financing.
If the unit is attached, project review applies regardless: owner-occupancy ratio, reserves, litigation, delinquencies and single-entity ownership. Requirements are stricter for a second home purchase than a primary residence, which matters because many buyers here are seasonal.
The club obligation, and why it lands harder on an asset-based file. Where membership is mandatory at your address, dues and minimums count against whatever qualifying figure your structure produces. An initiation deposit is cash out and generally does not count toward reserves.
If you are qualifying by asset depletion, that deposit reduces the very balance your qualifying income is derived from. It costs you twice. Decide the club and the loan together, not sequentially. See How a Scottsdale Golf Club Membership Affects Your Mortgage Approval.
Fixed income meets a stack that is not fixed. Association dues and any mandatory club dues rise over time independently of your mortgage. 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 Boulders buyers are seasonal. A second home changes your down payment and pricing and means qualifying while carrying both housing payments. See Second Home or Investment Property in Scottsdale.
Carefree and far north property questions. Well water and septic appear on parcels in this area and carry their own inspections on some programs.
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 at The Boulders
- 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.
- Ask directly about hotel-style services and any rental program at the project.
- Ask whether club membership is mandatory at the address and get the current membership plan.
- Get the association budget, reserve study and assessment history.
- 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.
- We ask the condotel question early at resort-adjacent property, because it is the one that ends deals outright.
- We model the club deposit against your reserves and your depletion calculation before you write the check.
- The full toolkit, agency and jumbo through asset depletion, portfolio condo financing 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, asset depletion calculations and condominium project standards vary by investor and change over time. Club and association obligations vary by community; confirm current terms with the club and 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
