RSUs, options, private shares
The biggest challenge when your wealth is in stock is usually timing. Whether you’re selling shares, tendering private stock, or borrowing against them, we help you plan the path from RSUs, options, and other stock to a property purchase, so the timeline doesn’t cost you the right property.
Before you make an offer
Know your cash
- Know when you can actually sell. Vested shares can still be locked up after an IPO or blocked during trading blackout windows. A 10b5-1 plan has a mandatory waiting period before the first sale. A tender or secondary sale isn’t cash until your shares are accepted and the money has settled. Find out the dates, because they can decide whether you can make an offer now or in two months.
- Count your cash after tax and settlement. Withholding on RSUs often falls short of what you’ll owe at your bracket, and exercising options can add alternative minimum tax. Stock sales also take time to settle before the cash can be wired. Ask your CPA for a number you can rely on, and build the settlement delay into your deposit and closing dates.
- Decide whether to sell or borrow. A securities-backed line of credit can let you keep your shares and still close. If the stock falls, the lender can require more collateral or sell shares at a bad time. Ask your advisor how much cushion you’d have, and whether a lender will count the loan in your numbers.
Document it
- Ask your lender how they treat RSU and stock income. Lenders differ on whether and how they count RSUs toward qualifying income, and on how much vesting history they need. Ask early, and choose a lender who has done it before.
- Have proof of funds ready. Sellers typically want to see a recent statement or a letter from your advisor with your offer. Ask your advisor what they can provide, and how quickly.
Craft the offer
- Understand the terms of your offer. Every offer balances the chance of winning against the risk you take on. Price, deposit, timing, and contingencies all move that balance. We pull contingencies out as their own item below because they matter so much.
- Know what a non-contingent offer commits you to. Waiving contingencies such as the loan, appraisal, or inspection can make an offer stronger in a competitive situation. But if you then can’t close, your deposit is at risk. Know exactly what you’re giving up and what it could cost you.
This is general information, not tax, legal, or investment advice. Rules and your own situation vary, so check with your CPA, advisor, and attorney.
How we work
We take on only ten transactions a year, so when your window opens we’re available to move. Before you fall for a house, we build the timeline backward from your cash: when funds can be sold and settled, what a lender will count, and how fast an offer can be clean and credible. We read the disclosures closely, tell you plainly what we see, and write offers that sellers take seriously. We work alongside your CPA, advisor, and attorney, and leave the tax and legal advice to them.
How we’re paid is on the Pricing page.
Field Notes
A short note about turning stock into a San Francisco property, about once a month, when there’s something worth saying.
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