Jumbo loans for
Northern Michigan water.
Most jumbo content assumes you are buying a primary residence in a city. Up here it is usually a cottage on Torch Lake, a place on Walloon, or a year-round home on Little Traverse Bay, and half of those are second homes. We finance all of it, up to three million, with no mortgage insurance at any loan-to-value.
A jumbo loan in Michigan is any mortgage above $832,750, the 2026 conforming loan limit. Michigan has no high-cost counties, so that threshold applies statewide. Kirby and Angie originate jumbo loans up to $3 million for primary residences, second homes, and investment properties, with down payments starting around 10 percent for strong credit profiles and no mortgage insurance at any loan-to-value. Subject to credit approval and underwriting.
The conforming loan limit is reset by the FHFA every November, and jumbo program parameters including maximum loan amount, loan-to-value, and credit requirements change without notice. The figures on this page are accurate as published. Send us the property and the loan amount you are considering and we will confirm what is actually available today before you write an offer.
Where jumbo actually starts, and the number people get wrong
A jumbo loan is any mortgage that exceeds the conforming loan limit, the ceiling on what Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will buy. The Federal Housing Finance Agency resets it every November.
For 2026 that limit is $832,750 for a one-unit property, up from $806,500 the year before. One dollar over and the loan is jumbo.
Two things worth knowing, because a lot of published information gets both wrong. Michigan has no FHFA-designated high-cost counties, so there is no county where the threshold is higher. And the $1,249,125 figure you will see quoted in national articles is the high-cost ceiling. It does not apply anywhere in this state.
The other thing people assume is that jumbo has a maximum. It does not, not in any federal sense. Each lender sets its own. Through Union Home Mortgage we originate jumbo loans up to $3 million, with additional internal approval required above $2 million.
The Northern Michigan version of this is a second home
Nearly every jumbo article online is written for someone buying a primary residence in a metro area. That is not what high-value lending looks like here.
Up here it is a cottage that has been in the family and is finally getting refinanced. A place on Torch Lake bought by someone whose job is in Chicago or Grand Rapids. A year-round home on Little Traverse Bay that will become a primary residence at retirement but is not one yet. A lot on Walloon with a build planned.
Those are second homes, and the first question is whether a lender will finance one at that size. The answer here is yes. Primary residences, second homes, and investment properties are all eligible for jumbo financing. Maximum loan-to-value is lower on a second home than on a primary, and lower again on investment, but the door is open.
Why this matters more than it sounds. A lot of lenders quietly restrict jumbo to primary residences only. If a bank has told you no on a lakefront second home, the no may have been about occupancy rather than about you or the property.
The down payment is lower than you were told
The number most people carry into a jumbo conversation is 20 or 25 percent down. That is the old rule and it is no longer the only option.
Jumbo financing is available with down payments starting around 10 percent for borrowers with strong credit profiles on a primary residence. The required down payment increases with loan amount, and it is higher on second homes and investment properties.
And there is no mortgage insurance. Not at 10 percent down, not at any loan-to-value. That is a structural difference from conventional financing, where anything under 20 percent down generally triggers PMI. On a loan this size, no MI is worth a meaningful amount every month.
Those two facts together change what is reachable. A buyer who assumed they needed half a million down on a two million dollar property may be looking at a very different conversation.
What jumbo underwriting actually looks like
More documentation than conforming, and more attention on assets. Plan for two years of signed tax returns and verification of reserves you will still hold after closing.
Reserves are the part that surprises people. Lenders want to see months of payments available after the down payment and closing costs are spent, and the requirement rises as loan-to-value rises. A borrower putting less down needs more left over, not less.
Appraisal waivers are not available on jumbo loans, ever. There is always a full appraisal, and on higher loan amounts a second one may be required.
Jumbo files are also manually underwritten rather than run through an automated system. A human reads the file. That cuts both ways: documentation gaps that an automated approval might have overlooked get noticed, and genuinely strong files with unusual income can be understood rather than declined by algorithm.
What you can actually do
Jumbo is not one product. These are the transaction types we originate above the conforming limit.
Purchase, primary residence
The highest allowable loan-to-value of the three occupancy types, with down payments starting around 10 percent for strong credit profiles. Fixed and adjustable rate options. No mortgage insurance regardless of how much you put down.
Purchase, second home
Cottages, lakefront, and seasonal properties. Requires a larger down payment than a primary residence but is fully eligible. This is the category most national jumbo lenders quietly restrict and the one that matters most in this market.
Purchase, investment property
Eligible with a lower maximum loan-to-value and higher credit and reserve requirements. One to four unit properties. Short-term rental income treatment depends on the program and the documentation, so bring the specifics rather than assumptions.
Rate and term refinance
Available on jumbo balances, including borrowers who want to move off an adjustable rate into a fixed. If your loan sits near the conforming line, we check whether the new limit brings you under it, because conforming pricing may be better.
Cash-out refinance
Available on a primary residence at a lower maximum loan-to-value than a purchase, with credit requirements tightening as loan-to-value rises. Cash-out on second homes and investment properties is generally not available.
Recast after closing
If you close on a jumbo and later apply a large lump sum to principal, a recast can re-amortize the loan to a lower payment without a full refinance. Useful when a prior home sells after you have already closed on the new one.
The lakefront appraisal problem
On a jumbo file the appraisal carries more weight than it does anywhere else, and Northern Michigan water makes it harder.
Waterfront value is driven by things that do not transfer between properties. Frontage in feet. Which water body. Whether the view is west over the water or east into the trees. Bottom type. Whether the frontage is usable or a wall of reeds.
That makes comparable sales genuinely hard. A home on Torch Lake does not compare to a similar home two miles inland on a road, and it does not compare cleanly to a home on a different lake. In a quiet year a specific lake may produce only a handful of sales that an appraiser can defend using.
On a conforming loan there is an automated valuation model in the background as a sanity check. On jumbo there is not. The appraisal is the valuation, full stop, and appraisal waivers are never permitted.
What that means practically: order early, expect scheduling to take longer than it would downstate, and if you or your agent know of recent comparable waterfront sales, that information is worth providing through the proper channel for the appraiser's consideration. The appraiser decides independently what is comparable, but on a thin market good data beats no data.
On higher loan amounts a second appraisal may be required, which is another reason the timeline on a jumbo file deserves more room in the purchase contract than a conforming file does.
Where we write jumbo loans
High-value markets across Northern Michigan, plus the rest of the state.
Common questions
If jumbo is not the fit
Sometimes the right answer is a conforming loan, a second home program, or an investor product. These are the adjacent options.
Send us the address and the lake.
Loan amount, occupancy type, and the property. That is enough for us to tell you what is realistic on a jumbo file before you write an offer or waive a financing contingency.
Equal Housing Lender. All loans subject to credit approval and underwriting. Program parameters including maximum loan amount, loan-to-value limits, credit score requirements, reserve requirements, debt-to-income limits, and occupancy eligibility are subject to change without notice and vary by program, property type, and borrower profile. This is not a commitment to lend. Conforming loan limit values are set annually by the Federal Housing Finance Agency and are subject to change. Rates change daily. Figures described on this page are provided for general education and do not constitute a quote, a rate lock, or an offer of credit. Short-term rental income treatment varies by program and documentation. Angie Anderson NMLS #1999286 | Kirby Slocum NMLS #680817 | Union Home Mortgage NMLS #2229229. Licensed in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
