McCormick Ranch is one of the few Scottsdale golf communities where a self-employed buyer can land on either side of the conforming loan limit, and which side you land on changes the loan more than anything else about the file. Below the line, agency rules. Above it, jumbo: more reserves held after closing, tighter ratio tolerances, fuller documentation.
Your tax return decides which one you get. That is worth understanding before you shop rather than after.
The line, and why it matters so much
A loan above the conforming limit for Maricopa County is a jumbo loan, not eligible for purchase by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, held or sold to private investors who set their own guidelines. The limit adjusts annually, so confirm the current figure rather than working from memory.
What changes when you cross it:
- Reserves. Jumbo programs typically require months of full housing payments in verifiable, accessible assets after closing. Agency loans are far more forgiving.
- Ratio tolerance. Generally tighter, with less room for the compensating factors that stretch a conforming file.
- Documentation. Fuller, with fewer shortcuts.
- Guideline variation. Unlike agency lending where the rulebook is shared, jumbo guidelines differ meaningfully between investors.
For a self-employed borrower this compounds, because your qualifying income was already rebuilt downward from your returns. A smaller qualifying number plus a stricter reserve test is the squeeze. See Jumbo Loans in Scottsdale.
The practical consequence: a modest change in purchase price, or in how your returns were prepared, can move you across the line and change the entire character of your approval. Run both scenarios before you shop.
How an underwriter rebuilds your income
Two years of filed returns, through Fannie Mae Form 1084 or Freddie Mac Form 91.
- Schedule C: net profit line 31, plus depreciation, depletion and business use of home added back, minus non-recurring income, divided by 24.
- 1120S and K-1: your W-2 wage counts. K-1 ordinary income counts only where distributions are documented and the business has liquidity to keep paying them.
- 1065 and K-1: same, with guaranteed payments included.
- Schedule E: rental net with depreciation, taxes, insurance, interest and HOA added back where allowed, minus full PITIA.
Three rules that outweigh the arithmetic:
- A write-off is a trade. Each dollar of aggressive deduction saves tax at your marginal rate and costs roughly four to five dollars of buying power. At McCormick Ranch that trade can literally be the difference between an agency loan and a jumbo.
- Declining income becomes the baseline. Year two lower than year one generally becomes your qualifying income, not the average.
- A K-1 without distributions is paper. Retained earnings are not spendable income, and underwriting frequently agrees.
What McCormick Ranch adds
McCormick Ranch sits in central Scottsdale, roughly 3.7 miles from Old Town, built around two parkland-style courses, the Pine and the Palm, with mature trees, water features and Camelback Mountain views. It is a genuinely different landscape from the desert-style courses in the north, and it is far more convenient to the rest of the city.
Wide product range, wide price range. This is the defining feature for your file. McCormick Ranch spans attached product through larger single family homes, which is exactly why buyers land on both sides of the conforming line here. It also means the comparable sales are plentiful, so appraisal risk is materially lower than in a far north community with two hundred homesites.
Attached product means project review. If you are buying a condominium or attached unit, the project gets underwritten as well as you: owner-occupancy ratio, commercial square footage, reserve funding, litigation, delinquencies and single-entity ownership. A project can fail independently of your file. See Scottsdale Luxury Condo Financing.
Older housing stock in parts. A mature community with mature trees means homes of various eras. Condition, roofs, systems and any deferred work become live questions, and on government-backed programs minimum property requirements interact with all of it.
Golf here is generally not a mandatory ownership obligation the way it is at the private equity clubs further north, but confirm rather than assume. The test is always whether an obligation attaches to your address and whether you can decline it. Where it is mandatory, dues and minimums count against your ratio and any initiation deposit is cash out that does not count toward reserves. See How a Scottsdale Golf Club Membership Affects Your Mortgage Approval and HOA Dues, Club Dues and Assessments.
When the returns do not support the purchase
Take the conventional or agency jumbo if your returns support it. Cheapest money available. When they do not, each of these proves repayment capacity differently and prices differently than agency financing.
Bank statement. Twelve or twenty four months of deposits with an expense factor applied. Note that transfers between your own accounts are stripped from the calculation, covered in Bank Statement Loans in DC Ranch.
Asset depletion. Qualifying income from verified liquid assets rather than earnings. Retirement accounts typically discounted, pledged assets generally excluded.
No-ratio. No debt-to-income test at all. Credit, assets, reserves and the property carry the file.
Before you write in McCormick Ranch
- Confirm the current conforming limit for Maricopa County so you know which side of the line your price puts you on.
- Run both scenarios, agency and jumbo, and understand what each requires in reserves.
- Get your CPA and your lender in the same conversation before the qualifying returns are filed.
- If the unit is attached, request the HOA questionnaire, budget, reserve study and master insurance certificate before removing contingencies.
- Ask what has been updated and when on an older home.
- Get fully underwritten, not pre-qualified. A pre-qualification is a calculator. An underwritten pre-approval means a human read your returns and K-1s.
Why bring this file to us
- We read the returns ourselves and tell you which side of the conforming line your file actually lands on, which is the number that sets your price.
- Broker model. Jumbo guidelines vary more between investors than agency guidelines do.
- We read the HOA package before you are committed, on attached product.
- The full toolkit, agency and jumbo through bank statement, asset depletion and no-ratio non-QM.
- You talk to the principal. Ricky Khamis is President of EPiQ Lending, NMLS #173141, lending in Arizona since 1999 and a 2025 Presidents Club Winner at CMG Home Loans. Direct line: (480) 999-9842.
EPiQ Lending is NMLS #1936984, at 7975 N. Hayden Road, Suite A-101 in Scottsdale. Verify all of it before you trust any of it: Ricky's EPiQ Lending profile, the Scottsdale branch, and the license itself at NMLS Consumer Access. Hold every lender to that standard, including us.
Send me two years of returns before you write in McCormick Ranch and I will tell you which side of the line you are on.
Equal Housing Opportunity. This is general information, not a commitment to lend or an offer to extend credit. Conforming loan limits and jumbo guidelines change over time and vary by investor; confirm current figures before planning around them. Rates, terms, and program guidelines change and depend on credit approval, property appraisal, and other qualifying factors. Not all applicants will qualify. Non-QM and no-ratio financing carries different pricing and terms than agency financing. Consult your tax advisor regarding the tax consequences of any deduction strategy.
