Loan Programs

For the house above the limit.

A mortgage larger than the conforming loan limit for the county — a different underwrite, not just a bigger number.

What Is a Jumbo Loan?

A mortgage above the conforming limit, underwritten by hand.

A jumbo loan is a mortgage above the conforming loan limit, which the FHFA sets at $832,750 for 2026 across Salt Lake, Utah, and Davis counties. Above that line the lender holds the risk itself.

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Why Buyers Choose Jumbo Financing

Four reasons one larger loan beats stacking a second mortgage behind a first.

One loan instead of two. A single jumbo mortgage covers the whole purchase, where the alternative is a conforming first with a second stacked behind it and two payments to manage.
A person reads your file. Jumbo loans are underwritten by the lender that keeps them rather than to an agency template, so an unusual income picture can be explained rather than rejected.
Buy the house the market actually has. Utah prices put more properties over the limit every year, and a program that stops at the limit stops at the houses underneath it.
More room in how the loan is built. Because the lender holds the loan, the structure — the term, the reserves it counts, how income is treated — has more give than a conforming file allows.

More Than a Loan Program

The requirements are not the hard part. The timeline is.

A jumbo is slow to assemble, not hard to get. Documentation is heavier, particularly for self-employed borrowers and for income arriving as bonus, commission or distributions — so the way to make it fast is to start gathering before you are under contract.

Alliance helps you get ahead of it. With more than 20 years of mortgage experience, Alliance pairs market knowledge with a dedicated loan officer who tells you what the file will need months before it needs it.

Is a Jumbo Loan a Good Fit?

Four things jumbo financing does that a conforming loan cannot reach.

Reach above the conforming ceiling. A conventional loan stops where the conforming limit does and a jumbo does not, which is the whole reason the program exists.
No piggyback second mortgage. Splitting a purchase into a first and a second means two loans, two payments and two payoffs, where a jumbo is one of each.
Second homes and investment property. Jumbo financing reaches property types FHA, VA and USDA are closed to, because all three are built around a home the borrower lives in.
Underwriting that can read a complex income. Bonus, commission, equity compensation and business distributions are counted as income by a jumbo underwriter far more readily than by an agency-driven conforming file.

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Compare the Paths With Alliance

One conversation, and every number that decides this read in the right order.

The first question is whether you need one. The conforming limit moves annually and Utah prices move with it, so your Alliance loan officer checks the current figure for your county before treating a purchase as a jumbo at all.

One loan or two, priced side by side. A loan officer sets a single jumbo against a conforming first plus a second on cash at closing, monthly payment, and what each costs across the years you actually plan to stay.

Getting jumbo-ready

Five things decide how a jumbo file reads, and every one of them rewards starting early.

Two tall stacks of tabbed financial documents squared on a dark walnut dining table beside a navy folder and a fountain pen

The county limit itself. For 2026, the FHFA's baseline conforming limit is $832,750 for a single-family home across Salt Lake, Utah, and Davis counties, and it is reset annually. Whether a purchase is a jumbo is a question with a current answer, not a permanent one.
Credit. The bar sits above the 620 baseline a conventional loan works from — 700 and up is the range most jumbo lenders operate in, and 740 and above is where a file stops being a negotiation.
Reserves left after closing. Lenders want to see savings remaining once the purchase is done rather than a file emptied by it, often several months of payments held back. An emptied account is the most common reason a strong jumbo file stalls.
Documentation, especially of self-employed income. Two years of returns, business filings, and a paper trail for anything arriving as bonus, commission or distribution. This is the part that takes weeks when it starts late and days when it starts early.
Down payment. Larger than a conforming loan asks for, though not always the 20% the program is assumed to require. What a lender actually wants depends on the property, the reserves and how the income is documented.

Jumbo Loan FAQs

The questions buyers ask most before financing above the conforming limit.

What actually makes a loan a jumbo?

The amount, measured against the FHFA conforming limit for the county. For 2026 that baseline is $832,750 for a single-family home across Salt Lake, Utah, and Davis counties; a loan above it cannot be sold to the agencies, so the lender keeps the risk.

Do I need 20% down for a jumbo loan?

Not necessarily — that is the assumption rather than the rule. Down payment expectations are larger than a conventional loan asks for, but what a lender wants depends on your credit, your reserves and the property itself.

Is a jumbo loan harder to get?

It is less hard than slow. The underwriting is done by hand rather than to an agency template, so the file is read closely — which is why assembling it before you go under contract is the single most useful thing you can do.

Should I take one jumbo or a first plus a second?

It is worth pricing both. One loan means one payment and one closing, while splitting the purchase can sometimes cost less overall — a loan officer will show you which is true for your file rather than which is true in general.

Is the limit the same in every county?

No — the FHFA publishes higher limits in designated high-cost areas. The three counties this page quotes sit at the baseline, so the figure above is the one that applies there, and a loan officer can confirm it for any other county in the state.