Lenders that look at retirement assets for inv property HELOC

Hi Chris,

In my experience, finding a lender willing to offer a HELOC against an investment property will likely prove to be a challenge. Most will only do HELOC's on a primary residence. We are FIRE and finding that lenders really scrutinize us on any loans. It should not be an issue based on income/assets, but we aren't cookie-cutter buyers, and we don't fall under the normal parameters. We have been able to get the loans but only after providing a LOT of documentation and letting our full financials be available to the lender. When we were working W-2 jobs, we got approved for loans with ease. We have done 3 loans since retiring and it's a different world. It sounds like we are invested differently, most of our assets aren't in retirement funds. However, I think that ultimately the loans we have been approved for have boiled down to underwriting feeling confident in loaning by using a combo of assets and income. We used a local broker/lender and they were mortgages, not HELOCs. My experience is that it boils down to finding the right lender to work with; Keep looking until you find the one.

I have an investment property but never thought of taking a HELOC against it. I instead took a HELOC against my primary residence. Doing so may simplify the qualifying process.

Mortgage broker here. I’m aware of a HELOC that operates similarly to a bank statement loan. They use bank deposits as income if they appear to be semi regular over the last 12 months. But the rates are close to 10%. 70% LTV for investment properties.

This is not something that I have personally done, but in every discussion that I have heard around using financial assets as collateral or backing for a loan there is always a caveat that the assets can't be in a retirement account. I think it is something to do with the fact that the lender would have no legal recourse to seize the collateral assets out of a retirement account in the case of a default. YMMV.