If you’ve ever thought, “I make great money, but I could never get approved for a mortgage as an entrepreneur,” this one is for you.

In this Elevate 360 Summit session, Melissa sits down with Julie Eccleston – seasoned sales manager for one of the nation’s largest lenders, executive loan officer, and founder of Home Ownership U. With nearly 20 years in mortgage lending, Julie has personally served over 1,500 families and worked behind the scenes on thousands more as a suspense analyst helping “off the rails” files get back on track.

She brings a stat that will make your jaw drop: there are roughly 34.8 million small business owners in the U.S., but 49% of them are denied when they apply for a mortgage, compared to around 12% of traditional borrowers.

In this conversation, Julie breaks down what underwriters are really looking at (ability and desire to pay), why your tax returns matter more than your Stripe screenshots, how different stages of self-employment change your options, and what to do now if homeownership is a goal for 2025 or 2026.

If you’re W-2 with a side hustle, newly self-employed, or fully in your boss era and wondering how to not torpedo your mortgage approval with aggressive write-offs, this episode will help you build a game plan instead of guessing.

Takeaways

• Underwriters always come back to four things: income, assets, property, and credit—plus whether you have both the ability and the desire to pay the loan back.
• For self-employed borrowers, lenders primarily look at your last two years of tax returns and the bottom line, not just what hits your bank account.
• The stage you’re in matters: W-2 with a side hustle, newly self-employed, 1–2 years in, and 2+ years self-employed all come with different paths and options.
• Heavy write-offs may feel great at tax time, but they can absolutely shrink your lendable income and get your file denied if there’s no strategy.
• Not all loans are created equal: beyond conventional and government-backed loans, non-QM options (bank statement loans, P&L loans, asset-based loans, DSCR) can open doors for entrepreneurs who don’t fit the traditional mold.
• Getting fully underwritten before you shop (not just “pre-qualified”) is crucial for self-employed buyers so you don’t fall in love with a home you can’t actually close on.
• The right lender should be able to explain how they calculate your income, what programs they’re recommending and why, and show real experience working with self-employed borrowers.

Topics discussed in this episode:

• homeownership for entrepreneurs
• lender and underwriter logic
• income, assets, property, credit
• W-2 + side hustle vs fully self-employed
• tax returns, write-offs, and net income
• profit and loss statements and separate business accounts
• conventional, FHA/VA/USDA, and non-QM loan options
• bank statement loans, asset depletion, DSCR loans
• questions to ask any lender before you work with them
• building a timeline and strategy to get mortgage-ready
• LinkedIn™

BUSINESS RESOURCES:

▶ Ready to upgrade your leadership and surround yourself with high-performing entrepreneurs? Get a $1 preview inside Melissa’s private community, The Hive: https://burnouttoallout.thrivecart.com/hive-preview/

▶ FREE Daily Lead Gen Checklist: http://www.burnouttoallout.co/linkedin-checklist

▶ For more resources and information on Melissa’s current offerings: www.burnouttoallout.co

Connect with Melissa:

〉LinkedIn™: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-henault/

〉Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melissa_henault/

〉Get text updates by texting ALL OUT to +1 704-318-2285

Connect with Julie Eccleston:

▶ Download Julie’s free “From Hustle to Homeowner” Toolkit: https://stan.store/HomeownershipU/p/from-hustle-to-homeowner

▶ Book a complimentary 20-minute strategy session with Julie: https://stan.store/HomeownershipU/p/book-a-20minute-strategy-session

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Burnout to All Out. Fam, I am so excited for you all to get a chance to hear from the cream of the crop. These are our Burnout to All Out Elevate 360 mastermind clients who've been in my master, my high level mastermind all year this year. And we do a summit once a year with our mastermind clients to debut their zone of genius.

What is incredible is that these clients all embody a 360 degree approach to business. They all contribute in one way, or fashion as subject matter experts that contribute to the pillars of Elevate 360, which is truly that we believe that bodies build businesses and that we have to have business strategy and legacy strategy as well. And so what is really cool about these clients is that

through a series of a couple of days of a summit, they were able to highlight and bring value and educate in their fields, whether it was around self leadership, leadership in business, business strategies, energetics and mindset and or legacy and how we take what we're doing and make our money work harder than we did for it to create impact and legacy over time. And so they,

really embody all that represents the 360 degree approach to business and the burnout to all out through line of our mastermind. So over the next couple of episodes, you are gonna hear from all of these experts. You're gonna get the details to their work in the notes section. And hopefully you're inspired as well as to what is possible.

for you as an entrepreneur and scaling your businesses the way these incredible human beings have. So hope you enjoy the series. So excited to bring our next speaker, Julie Eccleston to the room. Let me give you again her formal bio as a member of Elevate 360 Mastermind. Julie is both a seasoned sales manager for one of the nation's

largest national lenders and the visionary founder of Home Ownership U, where she helps buyers prepare for home ownership with confidence. With nearly 20 years in the mortgage lending, years in mortgage lending, Julie blends expert strategy with heart led guidance. Her mission is to make the path to home ownership clear, empowering and achievable for everyone.

This is astounding, the statistic that she has here. There's approximately 34.8 million small business owners in the United States, which accounts for almost half the US GDP. However, when applying for a mortgage, 49 % are denied. 49 % are denied.

In her presentation today, Julie will walk you through what underwriters are really looking at and how to understand your tax returns and how to prep like a pro to get you approved. So Julie, love this topic. I know you and I were talking about this on our one-on-one the other week. I was like, this is dead on. I think this is one of the reasons some people are risk averse to going into business for themselves because if it's not health insurance, it's...

funding for their first home because if they're not backed by a W-2, they feel like there's no security, right? So, so excited for you to bring forward this topic today. And I am just, I'm gonna turn it over to you, my friend.

Well, thank you so much for that introduction.

Welcome to Hustle to Homeownership. And for so many within this community who I know are either starting their self-employed journey, their sole preneurs, their side gigs, side love, whatever we want to call it, sometimes when it comes to qualifying for mortgage, it's not as easy. And Melissa is right, 34.8 million small businesses in the United States. That's actually over 90 % of all businesses

within our country and makes up 46 % of the private sector and half of the US GDP. So obviously when we are thinking about small businesses, small businesses are like absolutely the backbone of our economy, but nearly half the time you are getting denied. Self-employed business owners are getting denied. And in comparison, that is 12%.

is what everybody else is. So I'm Julie Ecclestone as Melissa had shared, am a sales manager. I'm an executive loan officer. I've been in the business for over 18 years, almost two decades, which is funny because some days I still feel like I'm 18. But during that tenure, I've done a little bit of everything. One, been client facing. Two, I currently lead a team of

roughly five bankers that have led up to 25 to 30 before. And most importantly, I actually spent three years as a suspense analyst and that role within our organization.

is a role where we work on files that maybe have gone off the rails a little bit to find ways to get them back on track. So I've worked a ton with self-employed homeowners and borrowers and over 1,500 of my own families that I've personally served over the last two decades, not to mention the tens of thousands that I've helped only as an underwriter as well as with the teams that I'm leading.

So my goal today is to help you understand what lenders are really looking for and how to set yourself up for success. first things first, we're gonna talk a little bit about lender logic. What is an underwriter and what are they looking for anyways? So simply put, regardless of what type of loan you are looking for, if you're self-employed, if you've got passive income, if you're...

a W-2 employee, there's four things that come down that are analyzed. Your income, your assets, your property, and your credit. And the role of an underwriter is simply to go through, take everything that your loan officer tell them and evaluate the risk. They wanna know, one, does this client have the ability to pay? And two, do they have the desire?

to pay the loan back. Think of it this way. Think of the last time you went out for brunch or drinks with your friends, you put it on one tab, you said, great, Venmo me later. I bet you know out of that group of friends, which ones are gonna Venmo you before you ever hit to the parking lot, which one you might need to give a gentle nudge to, which ones you're definitely gonna give gentle nudges to, and which ones that you know you just went ahead and donated to their...

to their brunch fund because you know you're never going to get that money back. So you're probably thinking to yourself, Julie, but I'm the one, like I'm the Venmo, like I'm before the parking lot, like that is me. Why is there such a gap of being able to get a proof or a loan? Well, if you look at most loan programs, current underwriting guidelines are just looking at the last two years of tax returns. And they're only going to take into account the bottom line. So a regular income,

If you have lots of write-offs, a lot of times that is gonna result in low taxable income, which is going to make it harder for self-employed borrowers to go ahead and qualify. Your risk appears higher unless, one, you're working with the right loan officer, and two, you have it clearly documented. Because not all self-employment is created equal. As a lender, we're not just looking at like,

what you make, your pocket money, what actually is necessarily going into your bank account, they wanna know how long and how consistently you're making that money and that you've been making it and you are claiming it on your tax returns. Now, one of the biggest things I always hear from a lot of my self-employed clients who are just branching out and just starting is like, look, I'm going to make all of this money. But one thing that we do have to remember is that unfortunately,

within the first year, 20 to 25 % of small businesses fail. And within the first five years, almost half of them shut their doors, which is why underwriters, banks, lenders often rely on what that income is that you are showing to the government through your tax returns. So I'm gonna give you a little bit of a pop quiz. I don't need you to answer. There won't be a grade, but just think about it to yourself for a second. In your business, what did you make last year?

Maybe write it down, just think about it for a second. And then your follow up to that is, now how does that compare to what your tax returns say? You when it comes to write offs, when it comes to things along those lines, there's often a pretty big disconnect between what actually came into my bank account and what I paid taxes on. So, what we're gonna do today is I'm gonna show you how to structure your finances like a lendable business.

so we can get you from the sidelines and into home sweet home. Step one is to really understand where you are in your self-employment journey. know, maybe you're just starting out, you're someone like me, I have a W-2, I've got my side hustle. Maybe then you're newly self-employed, so we're less than a year. Then we're gonna progress from one to two years self-employed and then two years plus. So if you're in this W-2 with a side hustle, so.

You're working full time, you've got a passion project, you're starting to maybe earn some income through that business. Maybe you're not yet earning income through that business, but doing freelance work, whatever the case may be. This is a great time to get approved because your W-2 income will be your qualifying base. Now, one caveat I will say is like do the right thing, right? It's not get house quit next week. But if you are ramping up your self-employed journey, being able to do that, awesome.

And your side, because your side income, usually need two years of history to count. Now, I don't know about you guys, but when I started mine, I had some loss on my tax returns, which I did appreciate at tax time. And the good news is, is if and when you are using W-2s to qualify, that loss doesn't have to be counted into your income on most loans. So this is a really, really great time to say, okay, I'm gonna start looking for a home.

before I maybe transition into full-time self-employment. So at this point, really start building your books, right? So keep your business deposits in a separate account, really start tracking your income and expenses monthly, file your taxes so you're starting to get a history and report that side income, even if it's small, even if it's a loss, because right now we're thinking ahead. We wanna make sure if we want it to count later, we wanna be able to go ahead and do it now.

For many of you, you may not likely be mortgage ready, but can be with a strategy. So this is a really great way to start thinking. And the reason why I say that, and I'll give you an example. Let's say you're a therapist, you're working W-2, you're working for a firm, and you say, you know what, I wanna go out on my own, I wanna see my own patients within my own setting. You've been doing this for 20 years. If you have self-employment income on tax returns, even if it's for eight or nine months, but you've been in

that role, chances are you may be able to qualify. You are just gonna have like a more aggressive calculation. So it's not gonna give you credit for all of your income. So at this point, we're really gonna start building a solid paper trail. You wanna make sure that you're working with a lender early to get a game plan and ensure that you are partnering with a mortgage savvy CPA. We all love our CPAs when we go and they whittle that big number down to like a little number.

But then so many times clients come to me and they don't love their CPA as much when either we can't qualify them for what they need or we can't qualify them for all because we did a lot of whittling. So one to two years in, you're rolling, you've got a full year of self-employment under your belt, you filed at least one year of tax returns. We now have options for traditional programs, right? And you can take those tax returns and that experience in the field and you can qualify.

for traditional programs. Now, a lot of times you're gonna go to a bank, maybe you're gonna go to a community lender and they're gonna say, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, need two full years of self-employed. I will tell you, two is the magic number when it comes to mortgages. But that is not necessarily correct if we can document a trail of expertise and experience relating to what you're doing now. Remember, the whole reason we ask for all of this is from an underwriter, from a lender, they,

We want to ensure that you've got the ability to pay back and the desire to pay back because we have a history of being able to make this income and candidly for you as a borrower, as someone who is looking to purchase a home. The last thing I ever, ever wanna do is put someone into a position where maybe they're in a little bit over their head because being self-employed and having to be on a variable type of income is a lot different than just

study every week, every other week, I'm getting the same exact check. So one to two years self-employed, making sure that you are updating your profit and loss regularly, you're monitoring your income, is it increasing, is it decreasing, is it holding steady? This is just kind of a good word to the wise. If you have declining self-employment income that does raise some red flags, you will need some more documentation for that.

So being able to one, take a look at, where am I at now? Or where am I progressing? And then two, also being in a position of understanding that as you are getting ready to do your next year's tax returns and really being able to see where your losses are, where your losses aren't and to ensure that you aren't necessarily having like a major decline because that is a really, unfortunately, a big reason why a lot of self-employed borrowers

do get denied. So you may also wanna consider delaying some major deductions to show a stronger net income and make sure that you are organized. To your self-employed, the world is your oyster, right? You now have access to every single program that's out there because you have met the magic two-year mark. So most programs are gonna be accessible for you, but the biggest thing is going to be consistency year over year over year.

If we're seeing big swings, mostly negative swings, no one's sad if you're making more money. If we see big swings in declining income, it really is going to raise flags and require some explanation. knowing that before you're heading into a mortgage process is so important because the last thing anyone ever wants is for you to go find this absolute beautiful home, love it, want it, fall in love with it, win out on multiples.

just to find out that either one, you can't get qualified for it, or two, we're gonna ask for blood samples in your firstborn child to be able to get you approved and the amount of documentation that you have to provide. So making sure that you are just reviewing your last couple of years of tax returns, are they consistent, keep clean records, and really get fully underwritten before you are shopping. In this market in today's day and age, I tell everyone,

get a full verified approval, that's what we call them, in the organization that I work for where your income, your assets, your credit is fully underwritten before you ever walk in a door. And it's important if you are a W-2 employee, but candidly, if you're making $200,000 a year on a W-2 and you've got $100,000 in your bank, anyone can close that loan for you. But if you are self-employed, if you have nuances to your situation, it's so crucial that you get fully underwritten.

before you ever start shopping for a home, because no one wants you to break your own heart. So regardless of where you are in your journey, if you're just starting, W2, you got the side hustle, or you are full boss status, I've been doing this for years, it's so important to ensure that you've got a plan, you've got a timeline, that we have an accurate updated profit and loss statements, you're not scrambling at the last minute, that you're keeping your documents organized, and you're keeping your credit score high.

Be very mindful that you have no non-sufficient fees on your bank statements and document any irregular income sources. Now that QR code is gonna give you a link to a toolkit, and if you can't, the link is below, where it talks about all the different documents that you'll need based on the business that you have. Now, a lot of folks think like, my gosh, well, my W-2s, or I'm sorry, my tax returns do not accurately reflect

So you might be thinking, well, that's a lot. And how do I know what loan is right for me? So to boil it down, there are three different types of loans, three different categories. We've got our conventional loan, who are Fannie and Freddie, the big mama and papa of the mortgage industry that we're hearing all about in the news in today's day and age. We've got our government backed. So these are your FHA, your VA, your USDA, which are for rural properties.

So conventional, government-backed, FHA, these are awesome if you've got a W-2 or like Melissa was talking about, you have a co-signer with enough W-2 income to cover debt ratios. Maybe you get a pension, maybe you get social security, maybe you have trust income. Great, fully documented, we're good to go. This is where you should always start because your pricing is always going to be best on these programs. If you don't fall into these categories,

this is where you want to look at non-QM, right? You don't fit the traditional mold, you don't fit the traditional model, and that's okay. So maybe your tax returns don't accurately reflect the income you really are making through the business, or you're purchasing a property that is actually cash flowing. You can use that through different loan types, or you have substantial assets, but you're not taking draws. You can actually use a calculation to say,

I've got $2 million in the bank, I'm buying a 20 year loan, we can use this and use that as income to get you qualified for a little bit more. This is why knowing who you're working with and working with someone who understands the landscape and understands tax returns is so, so, so important. So here are a couple of questions that I would ask any lender that you're choosing to work for. And again, I would encourage all of my clients to ask these.

And I have also included these questions in the toolkit as well. And I will show this QR code at the end as well. So if you don't get a chance to take a picture now. One, will you do a full underwrite upfront? Again, this is going back to that verified approval, knowing that you are not gonna have any issues with getting your financing, takes so much stress off of the process and it makes you a stronger borrow. Cause at the end of the day, I might know that you qualify, you might know that you qualify.

but that seller does not know that you qualify. And if they're gonna accept your offer and take it off the market, they wanna know, hey, I'm not gonna have to just put this back on 10, 15 days later because this person can't actually buy this house. Two, do you offer loan programs for entrepreneurs? We just talked about, there are so many different types of non-QM, profit and loss loans, bank statement loans, asset depletion. Sometimes your smaller banks and even larger banks

don't offer these, it's not within what it is that they do. And that's okay. You might talk to someone that type of an establishment and they might say, know, sorry, Mr. and Mrs. Client, like, unfortunately, you don't qualify. That doesn't mean you don't qualify for a loan. just means you don't qualify for what they offer. And if they don't have some of these other programs, that's okay. You can find them elsewhere. Three, how do you...

calculate self-employment income. Now this one's a little bit of a passion question for me. There are a lot of folks out there within the mortgage space who will say, yeah, Mr. and Mrs. Client, oh my gosh, I can totally help you, me your tax returns. Great, go find a house and literally take them and say, here assistant, I need you to calculate this. Here underwriter, I need you to calculate this, just do this. Now that's great, you should have a support team that is gonna help you, but.

I look at it as like when I am choosing to do business with someone, I am putting my trust in you, my person, to get me through to the finish line. I wanna know that you have the expertise to actually do that for me, not just pass it along. Because if we have to pass it along to someone who knows what they're doing, then quite frankly, in my world, I just wanna work with that person. So asking them questions of like, is your process?

How am I assured that the person that I am working with really understands, you know, my situation and I'm not getting that fourth quarter call of, sorry, we messed up. I get a lot of those calls from clients who move forward with other lenders who then say, my gosh, Julie, can you help me? And half the time we can, half the time we can't. Four, how many self-employed borrowers have you closed with and can you provide references? Now, again, I've been doing this for almost two decades.

coach a lot of young just starting bankers. And I like to be at the front end of a lot of things. The thing I don't want you practicing on though are my finances. So asking, have you done this before? Right? Is a really, really appropriate question. Just like, you know, if I'm having heart surgery, I don't want to be that person's first patient. If I'm buying a house, I don't want to be the first set of tax returns that you're going through to try and close this loan.

when I probably already have tens of thousands of dollars on the line. And then lastly, why did you recommend program X versus program Y? And I will give you a very specific example before we kind of end out and head out. So I had a client, lovely client, past client of mine, and she qualified. We could fully verify her income. And then she also just inherited two businesses. And we could have gone either

And we actually ended up doing a non QM bank statement loan for her because it gave her better pricing. asking the question of like, Julie, like why are we doing this versus that is super, super appropriate. A lot of bankers and lenders will just say, Hey we're going to do a bank statement loan because you own four businesses and I don't want to have to go through all those tax returns. asking those questions to kind of dig a little bit deeper. And then lastly, three tips, one, have a plan.

make sure that you've got the right team before you're ready to buy. Two, keep your separate bank accounts, keep track of your business expenses and make sure you're being consistent with those payments. And then have your documentation ready to go before you call your lender or start looking for houses. So thank you so much. I hope that this was helpful. I know I have just a couple seconds. If someone has questions, I'm more than happy to help. And if you follow that QR code, you'll have two things. One,

you're going to get a link or you can download the toolkit, which talks a lot about those documentations. There's also an option on there too, to book a complimentary 20 minute, you know, strategy session with me, ask me your questions about where you are in your business, what you should do so we can put together a plan. So if home ownership, whether it's buying a home, whether it's refinancing, as we are starting to see interest rates come down, there's something that are in your future. We can make sure that you're set up and ready to go.

So you can take advantage when the timing is right.

Yay, Julie. Okay, there was a question in the chat and now I can't find it. And I said, I'm going, I'll ask. here we go. Can this advice be applied for home equity or refinance on rental properties as well for self-employed?

Yes, 100%. So if you are self-employed and have a rental, there's kind of two different ways. Either one, yep, you can do this on an investment property and do like a bank statement loan or non-QM. Or there are also something called a DCSR, DSCR. You guys, I think I'm dyslexic. I always get those different. Where basically you just take the cash flow of your property if it's an investment property and you're buying it more from like a business to business.

You can just take the cash flow. It doesn't necessarily you, but this is where documentation becomes so, so, so important. And I know you guys, feels like we're asking for a lot. Candidly, we are asking for a lot because don't forget, like we have to go through these documents too. So it's not cause we like to do it, but really to be able to go through and get you the answers that you need.

So informative and so detailed for the entrepreneur. Just this is like the niche information that so many people need, Julie. Thank you so much for sharing. Before we wrap up, I'm gonna ask you the question I've been asking everyone as an Elevate 360 Mastermind member, how are you embodying the 360 degree approach? 90 miles an hour right now with the market the way it is.

Yeah. So you know what I thought was really interesting? obviously like I've been in your community for a while. I've had this idea of really helping homeownership and first time homeowners. That is a huge passion project of mine because financial literacy is not amazing always in our country.

But I sold out for so long and I just didn't do it. I mean, it's been years and I just didn't do it. And so I think the biggest realization for me is like, it's not that I don't know what I'm doing. It's not that I don't have the drive. It's not that I don't even like doing this stuff. It's just you got to fix the inner work before you do the outer work. There's was probably to a point still is like something that was really blocking me to be like, screw it. Like I'm going and I'm going to do it and we'll figure it out. Right. And we'll we'll kind of jump right in. So I have thought that that was like,

really interesting that when you look at business and especially when you take so much pride in what it is that you do and that your business is so much of just kind of an identity of who you are as a person that you can't separate the inner from the outer and you've got to really make sure that you're doing it the right way, which I was not expecting.

So powerful. I mean, that's a huge piece, right? Like I often say, and I don't know if you would agree, but entrepreneurship in itself is one of the like biggest personal development growth journeys that we discover about ourselves, right? So good. So, so good.

I hope you found this episode as inspirational and kick ass as I enjoyed interviewing with it. If you love this and you resonated with it, please reach out, reach out to the speakers. Their information is in the notes. Feel free to reach out to us. And as always, if you're curious about mentorship and support and business coaching under the burnout to all out umbrella, go to burnout to all out.

and check out what we have going on in the business mentorship world today, including business coaching and retreats that are live and experiential and take a 360 degree approach to business. We can't wait to see you on the other side wherever we collide.