Mortgage With Stock Options in Florida: When Equity Compensation Counts
A mortgage with stock options Florida tech and executive borrowers want counts exercised and sold options as income with a history, and vested shares as assets. Unvested and unexercised options count for nothing.
Educational content only. This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial, legal, or lending advice. Loan programs, rates, and eligibility requirements change frequently. Consult a licensed mortgage professional before making any borrowing decision. Mortgage Capital | NMLS# 1859012 | Licensed in Florida.
A mortgage with stock options Florida tech and executive borrowers want counts options as income only when exercised and sold with a history, and vested shares as assets at a discount.
Unvested and unexercised options count for nothing at most lenders. Our guide to commission and bonus income in Florida covers the related variable pay.
Options versus RSUs
Options give the right to buy shares at a set price; value depends on the market.
Restricted stock units vest into shares outright.
See our guide to mortgages with RSU income in Florida.
Lenders treat RSUs more favourably.
Know which you have.
Options as income
Exercised and sold options appear on the W-2 as compensation.
Two years of history and a reasonable expectation of continuance.
The Fannie Mae variable income rules apply.
Averaged like bonus income.
Volatile histories are discounted.
Options as assets
Vested, in-the-money options are counted by some lenders at a discount to their intrinsic value.
Many lenders exclude them.
Exercising and holding the shares converts them to stock, an accepted asset at a haircut.
Exercising and selling converts them to cash.
Cash is simplest.
Vested shares
Publicly traded shares count as assets, usually at 70 percent of value for reserves.
See our guide to asset depletion guidelines in Florida.
Liquidated shares count in full once deposited.
Brokerage statements document them.
Private company shares rarely count.
Private companies
Options and shares in a private company have no market.
Lenders exclude them from assets and income.
A tender offer or secondary sale produces cash that counts.
See our guide to large deposits and source of funds in Florida.
Salary carries the file.
Taxes
Exercise and sale create taxable events with different treatment for ISOs and NSOs.
The IRS stock option guidance explains the categories.
Alternative minimum tax on ISO exercises.
Net proceeds after tax are what the lender sees.
Plan with a tax adviser before selling for a down payment.
Timing
Sell and deposit before applying so the funds season.
See our guide to how many months of bank statements a mortgage needs in Florida.
Blackout periods can block sales at the wrong moment.
A pre-approval on salary with options as future reserves is a common structure.
Coordinate the sale with the company's trading windows.
Jumbo and private bank lenders
Banks serving executives read equity compensation more generously.
See our guide to jumbo loan requirements in Florida.
Some count vested options as assets and recent grants as continuing income.
Relationship pricing for deposits or managed assets.
The right lender changes the outcome.
Relocation packages
New grants at a new employer have no history.
See our guide to relocation package mortgages in Florida.
Signing bonuses paid in cash count once received.
Salary is the qualifying income.
Options are upside, not income, until they vest and sell.
Physicians and executives
Physician loans and executive programmes sometimes count contracted equity.
See our guide to physician mortgages in Florida.
Narrow programmes with specific rules.
Ask what the programme counts.
The employment contract is the document.
Reserves
Vested public shares at a haircut satisfy reserve requirements at many lenders.
See our guide to portfolio loans in Florida for lenders who go further.
Retirement accounts count similarly.
Options do not.
Reserves matter most on jumbo files.
Down payment from a sale
Brokerage statement showing the shares, the sale confirmation, the transfer, the bank deposit.
See our guide to letters of explanation in Florida.
A single request from the underwriter if the trail is complete.
Taxes set aside.
Seasoned sixty days if possible.
Concentration risk
A down payment and reserves in one company's stock is a risk lenders notice and you should too.
Diversify or liquidate before applying.
A market drop mid-process can shrink assets.
Cash does not move.
See our guide to mortgage with crypto assets in Florida for the same logic.
A worked example
An engineer with salary, two years of exercised-and-sold options on the W-2, and vested public shares.
The lender averages the option income and counts the shares at a haircut for reserves.
A sale before application funds the down payment with a documented trail.
The combined file qualifies for a jumbo loan a salary alone would not.
A private bank priced it best.
Trading windows
Insiders sell only in open windows after earnings.
A closing that falls in a blackout cannot be funded by a sale.
Sell in the prior window and season the cash.
Plan the calendar with the company's schedule.
The lender does not care about windows; the SEC does.
Employer verification
HR confirms salary and may confirm grants.
Grant agreements and brokerage statements do the rest.
See our guide to verification of employment in Florida.
Some employers will not discuss equity.
The documents speak for them.
Where to start
List your grants by type, vesting date and status.
Sell what you need for the down payment inside a trading window and season it.
Then get a pre-approval from a lender that reads equity compensation.