Equity Comp Mortgage Guide for Kirkland & Seattle Tech Employees

Why Kirkland and Seattle Tech Employees Face a Unique Mortgage Challenge

If you work at Amazon in South Lake Union, Microsoft in Redmond, or Meta's Kirkland campus, your total compensation package probably looks nothing like the W-2 your lender's underwriting system is built to handle. You might earn a base salary of $180,000 — but with RSU vesting schedules, annual bonuses, and sign-on grants layered on top, your real earning power could be $300,000 or more. The problem? Many lenders only count the base.

That gap matters enormously in a market where the median detached home in Kirkland now sits above $1.2 million. If a lender strips your RSUs and bonus out of the qualifying income calculation, you could find yourself pre-approved for far less than you actually need — or denied outright on a loan you can comfortably afford.

This is exactly why working with a lender who understands tech-employee income isn't a nice-to-have — it's the difference between getting into the right home and sitting on the sidelines.

How Lenders Actually Count RSU Income

RSUs — restricted stock units — vest over time, usually on a quarterly or annual schedule. Once they vest, they show up on your pay stub as ordinary income. But whether an underwriter will count that income toward your qualifying debt-to-income ratio depends on several factors:

• Two-year history: Most conventional and jumbo lenders want to see at least 24 months of RSU vesting documented on tax returns (typically Schedule D or W-2 supplemental income) before they'll count it as recurring income.
• Continuation of employment: Underwriters need reasonable assurance your RSUs will keep vesting. A current offer letter showing your remaining vesting schedule — or a verification of employment confirming your grant continuation — often satisfies this requirement.
• Income averaging: Lenders typically average your RSU income over 24 months. If your grants have increased year-over-year (common at Amazon and Microsoft after a promotion cycle), averaging can actually understate your income. A knowledgeable loan officer will know when to push for a different calculation methodology.
• Stock volatility: Because RSUs are equity-based, some lenders apply a haircut or require the vested shares to have been sold and deposited — not counted as paper gains. Knowing which lenders accept unvested RSUs as future income versus requiring a cash-out history is critical in a volatile market.

Stock Options Are Different — and More Complicated

Incentive stock options (ISOs) and non-qualified stock options (NSOs) are a different animal. Unlike RSUs that vest automatically, options require an exercise decision — and that exercise event may or may not appear on your W-2 depending on the option type and timing.

If you've exercised options in the past two years, that income likely shows up on your tax return. Underwriters will typically average those two years of exercised option income, which creates a problem if you exercised a large batch in one year and nothing the next. A single-year spike looks like a one-time event, not recurring income, and many lenders will discount or exclude it entirely.

For Microsoft employees with ESPP shares or early-stage Meta employees holding NSOs, the qualification picture gets even more nuanced. If you're in this situation, this breakdown of how stock options work in mortgage qualification is worth reading before you start shopping lenders.

The Kirkland and Eastside Market Reality in 2026

The neighborhoods surrounding Meta's Kirkland campus — Juanita, Totem Lake, and Bridle Trails — have seen sustained demand from tech workers relocating from the Bay Area and from Microsoft and Amazon employees seeking more space than Seattle's urban core offers. Entry-level single-family homes in these neighborhoods routinely list above $900,000, and move-up properties in the $1.4–$1.8 million range are common for senior engineers and managers.

At those price points, you're almost certainly looking at a jumbo loan — King County's conforming limit in 2026 is $806,500. Jumbo underwriting is more conservative than conventional, and income documentation requirements are tighter. Not every jumbo lender will give you credit for RSUs, and the ones that do often have different thresholds for what percentage of your total income can come from equity compensation.

This is why loan product selection matters as much as rate shopping. A jumbo lender who counts 100% of your averaged RSU income will qualify you for a significantly larger loan than one who caps equity comp at 50% of qualifying income — even if their rate is identical.

What Documentation You'll Need to Pull Together

Tech employees applying for a purchase loan in Kirkland, Redmond, or Seattle should plan to gather the following before applying:

1. Two years of federal tax returns (personal and, if applicable, business) — your loan officer will need to see all schedules, including Schedule D if you've sold vested shares
2. Two most recent W-2s — look for the supplemental RSU income line on your Amazon or Microsoft W-2
3. Most recent 30 days of pay stubs — ideally showing at least one RSU vest event in the current year
4. Current equity award statement — showing your remaining vesting schedule and grant values
5. Offer letter or employment verification confirming your role, base salary, and confirmation that equity grants are ongoing
6. Brokerage statements for the past 60 days if you've sold vested shares and the proceeds are part of your down payment

One thing that trips up Amazon and Microsoft employees specifically: large RSU vest events in Q1 or Q4 that haven't yet appeared on a pay stub at the time of application. If you're timing a purchase around a vesting event, coordinate with your loan officer early — there are ways to document anticipated income that satisfy many jumbo underwriters.

How Your Bonus Fits In

Annual bonuses follow similar two-year averaging rules. If you received a $40,000 bonus last year and a $50,000 bonus the year before, most lenders will count $45,000 in annualized bonus income. If you received a large retention bonus as part of a job change, that's typically excluded — it's a one-time payment, not recurring compensation.

Meta employees in particular often receive a combination of RSUs and quarterly performance bonuses. Structuring a mortgage application to capture both income streams — and choosing a lender whose underwriting guidelines actually support that — is something worth spending time on upfront rather than discovering at underwriting.

For a broader look at how equity compensation across all three Eastside employers gets treated at the underwriting level, see this post on Amazon and Microsoft equity comp mortgage qualifying and the Meta-specific RSU and bonus guide.

Choosing the Right Loan Officer Matters More Than the Rate

A 0.125% rate difference on a $1.5 million loan is about $100 a month. A loan officer who misses $80,000 of your qualifying income means you can't buy the home at all — or you buy something smaller than you need. For tech employees with complex compensation, expertise is worth more than a marginally better rate quote.

As a Washington-based loan officer who works regularly with Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta employees, I structure applications specifically around equity comp income from the start. That means choosing the right lender and product before you go under contract — not scrambling to fix an income calculation problem at underwriting.

If you're a tech employee in Kirkland, Redmond, Seattle, or anywhere on the Eastside thinking about buying in the next 90 days, the best first step is a conversation about your specific comp structure. Schedule a no-obligation consultation at jdonion.com or call me directly — I'll walk you through exactly how your RSUs, bonus, and options will be treated and what loan amount you can confidently qualify for before you start making offers.

You can also explore more about tech-employee home loans in Washington State to see the full picture of what's available for buyers in your situation.