Service area
Mortgage broker for Orange County
Orange County is 17% of everything Emory Financial has funded — 208 loans, second only to the San Gabriel Valley. You're not getting a broker learning your market on your file.
What's different here
Orange County, specifically
Every market has its own way of derailing a loan. These are the ones that come up in Orange County.
2026 loan limits
- County
- Orange County
- Conforming limit, 1 unit
- $1,249,125
- Above that
- Jumbo
Set by the FHFA and revised every January. See all loan programs →
Mello-Roos will change what you can afford — plan for it
This is the Orange County issue nobody warns buyers about. Irvine, Ladera Ranch, Rancho Mission Viejo and most newer master-planned communities carry Mello-Roos (Community Facilities District) assessments on top of the base property tax. It can add hundreds of dollars a month, it counts fully against your debt-to-income ratio, and it can take an approved buyer out of qualification. Get the actual assessment for the specific parcel before you fall in love with the house — not the community average.
HOA dues stack on top of that
Master-planned communities frequently have both a master association and a sub-association. Two sets of dues, plus Mello-Roos, plus base taxes. I build all four into the qualification from the start so your pre-approval reflects what you can genuinely carry.
New construction has its own timeline
Builder financing incentives are real but they're not always the better deal, and builder lock periods on a home completing in eight months work very differently from a resale lock. Worth comparing the builder's lender against the wholesale market before you sign the incentive addendum.
Orange County sits at the high-balance ceiling
The 2026 conforming limit here is $1,249,125 for a single-family home — the highest tier federal law allows. That covers a lot of Orange County, which means conforming pricing on purchases people assume must be jumbo.
Communities served
Where we've placed loans in Orange County
- Irvine
- Anaheim
- Tustin
- Fullerton
- Orange
- Buena Park
- Santa Ana
- Placentia
- Aliso Viejo
- Ladera Ranch
- Lake Forest
- Garden Grove
- Cypress
- Huntington Beach
- Westminster
- Laguna Niguel
- Newport Beach
- Costa Mesa
- Brea
- Yorba Linda
- Mission Viejo
- Fountain Valley
From Emory Financial's closed-loan records, 2011–present. Licensed throughout California — if your property is elsewhere in the state, that's fine too.
Next step
Start with a conversation.
Fifteen minutes, no credit pull, no obligation. Tell me what you're looking at in Orange County and I'll tell you honestly what's realistic.