Bryan PiccolominiNMLS #228509 · Residential Mortgage Call (619) 876-1504
A low adobe house with timber vigas and a shaded ramada among saguaro and prickly pear in the Sonoran desert of Arizona at sunset
Arizona

Second home loans in Arizona

The company's home state, and a market split cleanly in two: winter residences in the Valley, and summer places at altitude. Both raise the occupancy question, for opposite reasons.

Bryan Piccolomini, NMLS #228509, originates second home and vacation home mortgages in Arizona through Residential Mortgage, LLC, NMLS #167729. The company holds Arizona License #BK-0941441 and is headquartered in Scottsdale. Arizona second home purchases divide into two different files: a winter residence in the Phoenix or Tucson metro, which is usually a condominium or a planned-development home and runs into condominium project review, and a summer place in Sedona, Flagstaff or the White Mountains, which is usually a single-family house where access and seasonal use matter more.
The map

Where second home buying concentrates in Arizona

Arizona second home demand splits by season and by elevation, and the two halves behave like different markets.

  • Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and North Phoenix, the winter residence core, dense with condominiums, casitas and gated planned developments, and the market where a lender's review of the project matters as much as its review of you.
  • Sedona and the Verde Valley, red rock country, largely single-family, and an area with a long established visitor economy and a correspondingly high number of properties that have been run as rentals at some point.
  • Flagstaff and the Coconino high country, a genuine four-season market with real winters, where second homes serve both the ski hill and summer escape from the Valley heat.
  • The White Mountains, around Pinetop-Lakeside, Show Low and Greer, the traditional summer cabin belt for Phoenix and Tucson families, with a stock ranging from A-frames to substantial homes.
  • Prescott and the Bradshaw foothills, milder than Flagstaff and closer to the Valley, a market that draws both second home buyers and eventual retirees.
  • Lake Havasu City and the Colorado River corridor, along with Payson on the Mogollon Rim, both weekend markets defined by how far they sit from a metro driveway.
  • The Tucson foothills and Green Valley, the southern equivalent of the Scottsdale winter market, again heavily planned development.

Those are descriptions of where the market is, not a claim about prices or returns. The property type you land on decides most of what follows.

What the housing data shows. The Census Bureau counts 172,996 housing units in Arizona classified for seasonal, recreational, or occasional use, which works out to about 5.5% of every housing unit in the state. That category is the closest thing public data has to a count of second homes.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates, 2023, tables B25004 and B25001.

A low desert house of stacked stone and glass below a sunlit mountain range
The Valley's resort corridor is heavily condominium and planned development stock, which is where project review and rental program agreements come up most often.

What usually decides a Arizona file

Condominium and planned development stock in the Valley

A large share of Scottsdale and Tucson winter residences are condominiums or sit inside planned developments with an association. On a condominium, the lender reviews the project as well as the borrower, and that review can turn on things that have nothing to do with you: the share of units investor owned, commercial space in the building, litigation involving the association, and how the budget handles reserves. It is the most common reason an Arizona condominium file slows down.

Seasonal rental culture, and the occupancy line

Arizona has an unusually visible short-term rental market in both halves of the state, and second home listings are frequently marketed with their rental history in the description. That history is not a problem in itself. What is a problem is a plan that makes the property a business, because a second home cannot be subject to any agreements that give a management firm control over the occupancy, and it must be under the borrower's exclusive control. Occasional rental of a second home is contemplated, but the income cannot be used to qualify.

Source: Fannie Mae Selling Guide B2-1.1-01, Occupancy Types.

Self-employed buyers, which is a large share of this market

Arizona winter residences are bought disproportionately by business owners and people with income that does not arrive as a single salary. That is routine rather than an obstacle, but it changes the documentation path, and it is worth knowing at the start which version of the file you are on rather than three weeks in.

The company is licensed here, and based here

Residential Mortgage, LLC holds Arizona License #BK-0941441, and its office is at 7047 E Greenway Parkway, Suite 220, Scottsdale. That is a convenience rather than a requirement: an Arizona second home is handled the same way as one in any of the other twenty states.

Which guides matter most here

For an Arizona purchase, these three cover the ground the market actually raises.

Condo Project ReviewThe Valley and Tucson foothills markets are condominium and planned development heavy, and the project review is where these files stall.
Self-Employed Second Home MortgageA large share of Arizona winter residence buyers are business owners. This covers how that income gets documented.
Second Home Occupancy RequirementsBoth halves of the state have an active rental culture, so what part-year occupancy commits you to is worth reading first.

Licensing in Arizona

Residential Mortgage, LLC holds Arizona License #BK-0941441 and is headquartered at 7047 E Greenway Parkway, Suite 220, Scottsdale, AZ 85254. Bryan Piccolomini holds NMLS #228509 and Residential Mortgage, LLC holds NMLS #167729. Both can be checked independently on NMLS Consumer Access. Fuller detail is on the licensing page.

Common questions

Can Bryan lend on a second home in Arizona?

Yes. Residential Mortgage, LLC holds Arizona License #BK-0941441 and is based in Scottsdale. Bryan Piccolomini holds NMLS #228509.

Does a Scottsdale condominium need extra review?

A condominium purchase involves a review of the project alongside the review of your file, and that is standard rather than a complication. What it means practically is that questions about the association's budget, insurance, litigation and owner-occupancy mix can affect the timeline, so it is worth asking the listing agent early.

I plan to rent my Arizona place out in the winter. Is it still a second home?

It depends on the arrangement. Occasional rental is contemplated on a second home, but the income cannot be used to qualify, and the property cannot be subject to an agreement that gives a management firm control over the occupancy. If the plan is really a rental business, that is an investment property purchase with different terms.

Is a White Mountains cabin financed differently from a Scottsdale condominium?

The loan rules are the same, but the property questions differ. The cabin raises access, utilities and year-round habitability. The condominium raises project review. Which one you are buying decides what to check before making an offer.

More states: all 22. Run the arithmetic first on the calculators page.

Arizona

Send Bryan the address

On an Arizona condominium the project questions come first. On a mountain property it is access and use.