What are your mortgage options for buying a home in Scottsdale?

In Scottsdale, the loan you're most likely to need is a jumbo loan. For 2026, the most Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will back on a one-unit home in Maricopa County is $832,750, and a lot of Scottsdale homes cost more than that. In ZIP 85255, the DC Ranch, McDowell Mountain Ranch and Grayhawk area, the median sale price over the past 12 months was $1,700,000, according to the Cromford Report in October 2026. Buy under $832,750 and you're in conventional territory. Buy above it and the rules come from whoever is lending the money.

I'm Jen Keene, a REALTOR® with eXp Luxury in Scottsdale, AZ, and I'm the agent people call at every stage of their life. I walk every buyer through what happens before they see a single house, starting with pre-approval and the buyer broker agreement, so the financing conversation happens before you fall for a house you can't get a loan for.

Below is how jumbo and conventional loans differ, what a down payment looks like at Scottsdale prices, whether down payment help applies here, and how your property tax ends up inside your monthly payment. Pre-approval, underwriting and what can delay a closing are their own set of steps, and I've laid those out separately, since they apply the same way wherever you buy.

A conventional loan is one Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac will buy from whoever finances it. For 2026 the loan amount they'll back on a one-unit home in Maricopa County tops out at $832,750. That's the baseline the Federal Housing Finance Agency set for most of the country, and Maricopa County isn't on its separate list of higher-cost markets. If you're a first-time buyer, or your household income falls under the local figure, programs like Fannie Mae's HomeReady or Freddie Mac's Home Possible and HomeOne bring the down payment down to 3%. Without one of those, a standard conventional loan often asks for 5% or more.

Put down less than 20% on a conventional loan and you'll carry private mortgage insurance until you build enough equity. Under the Homeowners Protection Act, it comes off automatically once your loan balance reaches 78% of what the home was worth at closing, and you can ask for it to be removed yourself once you reach 80%.

A jumbo loan is anything above $832,750. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac don't set the rules for it, so each lender does. Each lender sets its own minimum credit score, its own down payment, and how much cash you must have left after closing, called reserves. Those requirements differ from lender to lender, so ask each one for its minimum score, down payment, reserves and debt-to-income limit for the amount you need.

Expect more paperwork and a longer timeline than a standard loan. If you're self-employed, some lenders offer bank-statement programs that use 12 to 24 months of deposits instead of tax returns, so ask about that before you assume your tax returns decide it.

Take a $1,500,000 home as an example. At 20% down, you bring $300,000 and borrow $1,200,000. At 10% down, you bring $150,000 and borrow $1,350,000. That's an example of the arithmetic, not a quote, since what a lender will ask for depends on your score, your reserves and the loan.

The down payment isn't the only cash you need. Closing costs come on top of it, and on a jumbo loan the lender will usually want to see money left in the bank afterward. Ask for your cash-to-close and your reserve requirement in writing before you go shopping.

Maricopa County offers its own program, Home in Five Advantage. According to the program's own site, it can provide up to 6% of your loan amount toward the down payment and closing costs together, and it pairs with an FHA, VA, USDA or conventional first loan.

To qualify, Home in Five asks for a credit score of at least 640, household income up to $153,440 a year, and a debt-to-income ratio up to 50%. You have to move into the home within 60 days of closing and complete an eight-hour homebuyer education course through an Arizona HUD-approved agency first. The Maricopa and Phoenix Industrial Development Authorities have administered the program since 2012, and their site at mcida.com has the current application steps. Because of the income cap, it fits buyers at the lower end of the Scottsdale market.

FHA loans ask for 3.5% down with a credit score of 580 or better, but HUD caps the loan amount for Maricopa County each year, and that cap sits far below the median price in ZIP 85255. FHA rarely fits a north Scottsdale purchase. VA loans ask for nothing down if you're an eligible veteran, active-duty service member or qualifying surviving spouse, and what you can borrow with no down payment depends on your entitlement and the lender, so that's a conversation to have with whoever handles VA loans for you.

Most loans, and almost every loan with less than 20% down, collect your property tax and homeowners insurance a little at a time through an escrow account instead of asking you for one or two large payments a year on your own. Whoever services your loan keeps that money and pays the county and your insurance company when each bill comes due. A federal rule, Regulation X under RESPA (12 CFR 1024.17), caps how much extra cushion a servicer can require in that account at no more than two months' worth of payments beyond what the actual bills call for.

For the 2026/27 fiscal year, the City of Scottsdale's own share of your property tax bill is a combined $0.8975 per $100 of assessed value, and the county folds in the rest: your school district, the state and any special district that reaches your address, all on one bill. I've written up the full lookup, how the value gets set, and what to do if you think it's wrong, in a separate piece on Scottsdale property tax, since that's its own topic.

Arizona law caps how much your home's taxable value can rise in a year at 5%, and it can rise that much every year. Your escrow payment moves with it even when your rate and loan balance haven't changed. Once a year, your loan servicer completes an escrow analysis and adjusts what you pay to match the actual bills. If that analysis finds you're short, the shortage gets spread over at least twelve monthly payments; your servicer can't demand it all at once, though you're free to pay it off in one lump sum if you'd rather be done with it.

Getting one quote and stopping there. The rate and the fees on the same loan can differ between companies, and you won't know that until you compare more than one Loan Estimate side by side.

Treating pre-qualified as the same thing as pre-approved. They aren't, and I've laid out the difference, because it changes what a seller does with your offer.

Waiting to ask about jumbo rules until you've found a house. Each lender sets its own score, down payment and reserve requirements above $832,750, so find out what yours will ask for before you write an offer.

Not budgeting for next year's escrow increase. Arizona's cap lets your assessed value rise by as much as 5% every year, and when it does, your monthly payment moves with it even though your rate and loan balance haven't changed.

Get pre-approved before you start touring. Here's what happens at that stage, including the buyer broker agreement that goes with it. Compare more than one company for your rate and fees, and ask each one what it requires for a loan above $832,750. If you're buying in Scottsdale, here's the rest of what buying here looks like. If you want help lining up the financing side with an actual house, get in touch or call me at (480) 203-6605.