A jumbo loan is any mortgage bigger than the conforming loan limit for the county where the home sits. In 2026, that line is $832,750 for a single-family home in 66 of Florida's 67 counties, with Monroe County drawing it higher. Above the line, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can't buy the loan, so the lender either keeps it or sells it to a private investor, and each one sets its own rules.
What changes once you cross the line
| Conforming Conventional | Jumbo | |
|---|---|---|
| Who writes the rules | Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac | Each lender or investor |
| Smallest down payment | 3% (first-time buyer, single-family), 5% on 2 to 4 units | Set by the lender, usually larger |
| Reserves after closing | Often none on a single-family home you'll live in | Usually several months of payments, set by the lender |
| Approval | Fannie Mae's or Freddie Mac's automated underwriting system | Lender's own underwriting, often with full manual review |
| Loan size | Capped by the county limit | No agency cap |
Reserves are money left in your accounts after closing, counted in months of house payments. Jumbo lenders lean on them because there's no agency standing behind the loan.
A worked example
A buyer picks an inland Florida home and plans on 10% down. At that down payment, the loan lands $45,000 above the conforming limit for the county. There are two ways to handle it.
The first is to take the whole loan as a jumbo. The second is to add $45,000 to the down payment, which pulls the loan back to the limit and keeps it conforming. At a 5.75% rate on a 30-year fixed, that $45,000 is worth $262.61 a month in principal and interest.
Reserves can shape the choice too. If a jumbo lender asked for 12 months of reserves on a $5,400 monthly payment, the buyer would need $64,800 in the bank after closing (12 × $5,400). A buyer with that cash on hand may do well with the jumbo. A buyer who would rather put the money into the house can use it to stay conforming.
Other routes around the limit
- VA with full entitlement. VA puts no cap on the loan for a veteran with full entitlement, so the loan can run past the conforming line with $0 down when income and residual income support it.
- High-balance in Monroe County. In the Keys, a loan between the baseline and Monroe's limit is still conforming.
- A lower contract price. At 10% down, a price cut equal to the overage divided by 0.9 brings the loan back to the limit. In the example above, that's $45,000 ÷ 0.9, or $50,000 off the price.
FHA isn't one of the routes. Its county limit is a hard ceiling on the base loan, and there's no FHA version of a jumbo.
Check where your county's line falls on the loan limits tool, then run the price on Price Check. AAA Capital Funding at 888-601-8344 can lay a jumbo next to a conforming loan with a bigger down payment so you can compare the cash and the payment on each.