[scarface74]

I’ve had to go through the mortgage process three times in the last two years when my income was based on a prorated two year signing bonus and a back heavy RSU vesting schedule over 4 years [1].

The first time for a refinance and the second time for HELOC. Both times they would only consider my base. Luckily I lived in a relatively low cost of living area and we weren’t talking about that much by todays standards - a $300K refinance and a $160K HELOC a so my base pay was enough.

The third time when I tried to get an investment property, my DTI was too high to qualify based on solely my base. If they had counted my RSU grants even considering the 30%+ YTD decline, it would have been more than enough. I ended up doing a no income documentation loan and paying down the loan by a point. I also had to put 30% down.

For the second one, they still questioned why my stated income for 2022 was much lower than my actual income for 2021. I had to re-explain my compensation structure.

[1] How do you say which BigTech company you work for without saying which BigTech company you work for.