Tax Loss Harvesting Implications on Mortgage Qualifications

[Zeb B.]

I have about $50,000 in unrealized stock market losses in my taxable brokerage account. I'm considering selling some of these securities for tax loss harvesting. I don't plan to change my exposure to equities, the proceeds from the sales would be reinvested in similar manner (without violating wash sale rules).

My question is, if I harvest $50,000 in losses this year, will that loss reduce my income available to qualify for conventional mortgages? (I understand that only $3000 of these losses could be used to offset income other than capital gains this year, and that I would have to carry forward other losses for use in future years.)

I'm not currently planning on taking out any more mortgages in the near future, but I don't want to box myself in to a corner in case an opportunity to buy or refinance a property arises.