What Bay Area Tech Workers Need to Know About Mortgages Using RSUs, Stocks, and Creative Financing

Buying a home in the Bay Area is never “simple.” Add in the fact that most Silicon Valley tech professionals don’t get paid like traditional W-2 buyers, and things get even more complex. Your compensation likely includes a base salary, a performance bonus, and then—often the largest piece of the pie—restricted stock units (RSUs) or stock options.

The challenge is this: while your overall income might look incredible on paper, not every lender knows how to properly account for it. Many banks are still working off underwriting guidelines designed for teachers, firefighters, and accountants—not electrical engineers at Apple, chip designers at Nvidia or top-notch AI researchers at OpenAI. If you don’t fit into their “box,” they’ll either lend you less money than you actually qualify for—or they’ll turn you down altogether.

That’s why working with lenders who understand the nuances of tech-heavy income is critical. Let’s break down the main areas where Bay Area buyers run into challenges, and how the right financing strategies can help.

The RSU Puzzle: How Lenders Treat Tech Compensation

If you’re in tech, chances are RSUs (Restricted Stock Units, or GSUs if you’re at Google) make up the bulk of your total income. They’re a powerful recruiting tool—designed to keep you tied to the company’s long-term success—and in some cases, they can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to your compensation each year.

The problem is, RSU income is volatile and complicated. It depends on the stock price, your vesting schedule, and your tenure with the company. Traditional lenders often undervalue it, or they’ll cap how much of it they’ll count. For example, some big banks like Bank of America or Wells Fargo will only count 50% of RSU income if it exceeds your base salary. That can drastically reduce your purchasing power.

But direct lenders who specialize in tech know how to work with RSUs properly. Here’s how they evaluate it:

Two years back – What RSU income have you already realized in the past 24 months?
Where’s the stock today? – They’ll look at the 200-day average to smooth out volatility.
Two years forward – Based on your vesting schedule, how much income is guaranteed to vest in the next 24 months?

By combining these three points, a specialized and adroit lender (such as Origin Point) can build a much clearer—and often more generous—picture of your true income.

Company-Specific Nuances: Google vs. Amazon vs. Netflix

Every tech company structures compensation differently, and that impacts how mortgage lenders treat you:

Google (GSUs) – Google stock is highly liquid, publicly traded, and easy for lenders to underwrite. Direct lenders will often give you full credit for your vesting schedule.
Amazon – One of the trickiest. Base salary is capped at around $175K–$185K, with minimal bonus in the first two years. The real equity doesn’t kick in until year three. Many banks won’t count future RSUs until you’ve built a track record, which creates problems for newer hires.
Netflix – The outlier. Netflix pays massive base salaries (often $450K–$500K), but offers little to no RSUs. Ironically, they’re the easiest clients to underwrite because their comp looks more “traditional.”
Startups – If your stock isn’t publicly traded on a U.S. exchange, it can’t be counted. Lenders need reliable valuation, and private stock doesn’t qualify.

This is why working with a lender who “speaks tech” matters. Otherwise, you might get a pre-approval that doesn’t reflect your actual buying power—or worse, a denial that shouldn’t have happened.

No Credit? Newly Recruited? You Still Have Options

The Bay Area’s tech scene is filled with global talent. Many new recruits arrive with massive packages but no U.S. credit score. Most lenders won’t touch that file. But specialized programs exist that allow mortgages without traditional credit scores.

If you’ve just relocated on an H-1B or L-1 visa, or you’ve only been in the U.S. for a few months, don’t assume you’re locked out of the housing market. With the right lender, you can still qualify and buy immediately, based on your contract and assets.

Buying Without Selling Your Stock

Selling stock for a down payment can feel like shooting yourself in the foot—especially in a bull market. Thankfully, there are workarounds:

Pledged Asset Loans – Instead of selling, you pledge vested stock as collateral. The stock stays in your name, continues to appreciate, and is simply held by the bank as security.
Margin Loans / Line of Credit – Borrow against your portfolio, just like you’d borrow against home equity. A $2M stock account could provide a $500K down payment line, without touching the shares themselves.
Bridge Loans – Buy your next home before selling your current one by borrowing against your existing equity. These loans don’t require income or paystubs—they’re based purely on the equity in your departing property.

Each of these tools is designed to let you maximize your purchasing power without forcing you to sell stock at the wrong time.

Asset Depletion: Turning Your Portfolio Into Income

Another tool that’s gaining popularity is asset depletion. If you’ve built a sizable portfolio but don’t want to liquidate, lenders will take your total account balance and divide it by a set term (often 84 months). That number is then treated as monthly income.

For example, a $4M brokerage account could generate about $40,000/month in “qualifying income,” even if you don’t sell a single share. For many Bay Area professionals, this is the bridge between wealth on paper and the ability to qualify for a jumbo loan in practice.

Silicon Valley Mortgage Loan Case Studies

When it comes to buying a home in Silicon Valley, theory only gets you so far. The real insight comes from seeing how actual tech professionals (engineers, executives, and newly recruited talent, etc.) have navigated the mortgage process with compensation packages that don’t fit the traditional mold. These case studies highlight real-world scenarios where creative lending strategies like pledged assets, RSU income, bridge loans, and even no-credit programs made the difference between getting turned down by a big bank and closing on a dream home in one of the most competitive markets in the world.

The Google Couple

Take the example of a husband and wife, both engineers at Google. On paper, their compensation was more than enough to buy a $4.2M home in Los Gatos. But when they went to the big banks, every lender demanded 35% down — well over a million in cash they didn’t want to part with.

The issue? Their wealth was tied up in Google stock. They didn’t want to sell — especially with the stock climbing — but the banks didn’t have a workaround.

A direct lender came in and structured a deal using a pledged asset loan. Instead of selling, the couple pledged a portion of their vested stock as collateral. They put down the 30% they were comfortable with, and pledged an additional 10% through their stock account. They kept their shares, captured the upside, and still closed on their dream home.

This is the kind of solution that works in Silicon Valley — where stock isn’t just income, it’s wealth.

The International AI Recruit

Another common story in today’s AI-driven world: a top engineer gets recruited to the Bay Area from abroad with a lucrative package. Six figures in salary, generous RSUs — they’re ready to buy a home in Mountain View. The problem? No U.S. credit score.

Traditional banks would turn them away, no matter how impressive the offer letter looked. But specialized programs exist that allow mortgages without traditional credit scores. In this case, the buyer qualified based on their contract, their assets, and their future earning potential — no FICO history required.

For international recruits on H-1B or L-1 visas, this can be the difference between watching the market from the sidelines and planting roots right away.

The Amazon Hurdle

Amazon’s compensation structure is famously tricky for mortgages. Base salary is capped around $175K–$185K, with minimal bonuses in the first two years. Stock grants don’t really kick in until year three. That means if you’re a new Amazon hire trying to buy a house in years one or two, most banks won’t count the equity you will be earning.

Direct lenders who understand this can sometimes bridge the gap by looking at your previous equity history at another company (say, Google or Microsoft), combined with your vesting schedule at Amazon. That’s how one Bay Area buyer was able to qualify to buy a home in West San Jose before year three — by working with a lender who was willing to connect the dots.

Why This Matters in Silicon Valley

At the end of the day, buying a home in the Bay Area isn’t about cookie-cutter mortgages. It’s about creative, tailored financing that understands how tech professionals are actually compensated. If your lender doesn’t “get” RSUs, bonuses, pledged stock, or international credit gaps, you could leave hundreds of thousands of dollars in buying power on the table. The right lender—and the right guidance—can make the difference between settling for less or getting the home you actually want.

For Bay Area buyers, this isn’t just theory. It’s reality. If you’re paid in stock, planning to leverage future vesting, or moving here from abroad, your financing options are out there, you just need a team that speaks your language. Reach out to me and I’ll connect you with a mortgage professional who can get the job done faster and easier than you’ve ever thought possible.