Yes, dividend and interest income can help you qualify, with real limits on history and on how much of the asset you keep. The core rules, using the conventional (Fannie Mae) version as the baseline: - History. You need a two-year track record, documented with two years of tax returns or 24 months of account statements. The income is averaged over the two years when it is stable or rising; when it is declining, only the most recent year counts. - You count income only on what you keep. Anything you spend on the down payment or closing costs gets subtracted from the asset base first. Income from what remains after closing still counts. What does not work is manufacturing the income right before you apply. Moving cash into income-producing funds a few months out fails on history, the same way most brand-new income sources cannot be used immediately. The agencies generally look for about two years of receipt, and they allow shorter histories for specific income types, so treat that as case-by-case rather than a clean program rule. Two nuances worth knowing. Freddie Mac has a legitimate path to convert eligible assets into qualifying income by spreading them over 20 years, available on primary and second homes with at least 20% down on a purchase or no-cash-out refinance. And selling assets to reposition them can trigger capital gains tax, which offsets part of the qualifying benefit, so loop in your tax advisor. There is also a genuine trade-off when the same funds could be your down payment: you cannot both spend the asset and count its income. Confirm current program rules, and we can model which of your income sources actually count on the free Roadmap conversation.