McKinney Mortgage Broker: Home Loans in Collin County
McKinney is really two housing markets wearing one city name, and the seam between them runs roughly along US-75.
East of it sits the original town — a courthouse square, brick streets, and houses built between the 1870s and the 1930s. West of it sits thirty years of master-planned development, most of it built since 1995.
A house on each side can list at the same price. They will not appraise the same way, and understanding why is the most useful thing a McKinney buyer can know before making an offer.
Why the appraisal behaves differently here
An appraisal is built from comparable sales — recent transactions of similar properties nearby. The quality of an appraisal depends entirely on whether good comparables exist.
On the west side, they always do. A 2015 four-bedroom in a master-planned community has dozens of near-identical neighbors, several of which sold in the last six months. The appraiser has a deep, tight data set, adjustments are small, and the value comes in close to contract price the large majority of the time. Appraisal risk on this side of town is genuinely low.
On the east side, they frequently do not. A 1908 house that was thoughtfully restored, on an irregular lot, two blocks from the square, may have no true peer that sold this year. The appraiser must reach further in distance and further back in time, and make larger adjustments for condition, age and lot. Larger adjustments mean more uncertainty in both directions.
What follows from that, practically:
Build appraisal contingency into an east-side offer. Not because values are weak — the historic district holds value well — but because the range of defensible opinions is wider when the comp set is thin.
Renovation quality is not automatically credited. An appraiser credits what the market pays for, supported by sales. A meticulous restoration with no comparable restored sale to point to may not return its full cost on paper. That is an appraisal-methodology fact, not a judgment about the work.
Give the appraiser information. A list of improvements with dates and costs, and any restored comparable sales you or your agent know of, is legitimate and useful. You cannot direct a value; you can make sure the appraiser has the facts.
Financing a century-old house on the east side
McKinney's historic districts hold a genuinely fine stock of Victorian, Folk Revival and early Craftsman housing, and buying into it raises two issues at once.
Design review. Exterior changes in a designated district generally require approval before work begins — windows, siding, roofing material, porches and anything visible from the street. This does not affect your mortgage. It absolutely affects your scope of work, and a renovation loan draws against an approved scope.
Condition. Pre-1940 construction brings knob-and-tube wiring, original supply lines, pier-and-beam foundations that have settled, and lead-based paint in anything pre-1978. FHA, VA and USDA all apply property condition standards, and FHA carries specific requirements on lead paint in older homes.
Which is why renovation financing is usually the right structure rather than a conventional purchase plus cash:
FHA 203(k) finances purchase and repairs together against the after-improvement value, with a low down payment; a Standard 203(k) covers structural and systems work, a Limited handles smaller scopes.
Fannie Mae HomeStyle does the same conventionally, so mortgage insurance ends at 20% equity rather than persisting, generally in exchange for stronger credit.
Sequence matters: get the historic review answer before the appraiser values the house on your plans. An approved scope and a permitted scope need to be the same scope.
Collin County taxes, and the exemption that matters
Combined rates in McKinney generally run in the 1.8% to 2.3% range — City of McKinney, Collin County, Collin College and your school district — plus any PID or MUD assessment on newer development.
Two Collin County specifics worth acting on:
File your homestead exemption the year you buy. It reduces taxable value and, more importantly, caps annual appraised value increases on your homestead at 10%. In a county that has appreciated as consistently as Collin, that cap compounds into real money over a hold.
The first bill after a purchase is usually higher than the listing implied. A sale resets appraised value to market, and the seller's exemptions come off at closing. If the seller was over 65, their tax ceiling does not transfer to you — this catches buyers constantly on older east-side homes, where the seller may have been paying a frozen amount for years.
Verify the parcel with the Collin Central Appraisal District rather than trusting a listing's tax figure, which is frequently the seller's bill rather than yours.
Five school districts, one city
McKinney addresses feed McKinney ISD, Prosper ISD, Frisco ISD, Allen ISD, Melissa ISD or Lovejoy ISD, depending on the parcel.
That is not a technicality. School district is the largest line on a Texas tax bill, typically exceeding city and county combined, so the district your address falls in materially changes your monthly payment and therefore your qualifying ratio.
The boundaries were drawn against growth projections across decades of annexation, and they do not follow neighborhood lines in any intuitive way. Verify by address with the district itself — not from a listing, and not from the city.
PIDs on the newer side
Much of west and north McKinney was developed through a Public Improvement District, where bonds funded streets, water and drainage before the houses existed and homeowners repay them through an assessment.
It is charged on top of your regular taxes, escrowed with them, raises your monthly payment and reduces what you qualify for. A PID assessment is often a fixed annual amount with a defined payoff term rather than a rate against value.
Ask for the district disclosure before you sign, and send it to us so the payment we quote is the payment you will actually make.
Where people buy
The Historic District around the courthouse square holds the 1870s-to-1930s stock, with brick streets and the deepest character in the city.
Craig Ranch on the southwest side is a large mixed-use master-planned development with a golf course and corporate campuses.
Adriatica is an unusual Croatian-village-themed development near Virginia Parkway, dense and walkable, with townhome and villa product.
Stonebridge Ranch is the large established master-planned community on the west side, built out from the late 1980s onward.
Trinity Falls north of town and the Highway 380 corridor are the current growth fronts and the most likely to sit inside a newer district.
Eldorado and the central corridor hold the 1990s and 2000s middle of the market.
The city
McKinney was founded in 1848 and named for Collin McKinney, one of the five men who drafted the Texas Declaration of Independence and the only one whose name is carried by both a county and its seat.
The courthouse square is among the best-preserved in Texas, anchored by the 1875 Collin County Courthouse and a ring of nineteenth-century commercial buildings now occupied by independent retail and restaurants.
Chestnut Square Historic Village preserves a collection of homes dating to the 1850s on their original or relocated sites.
The Heard Natural Science Museum and Wildlife Sanctuary protects 289 acres of blackland prairie, bottomland forest and wetland, with several miles of trail and a native plant program.
TUPPS Brewery occupies the old McKinney Cotton Mill, and Towne Lake Recreation Area and the Erwin Park mountain bike trails handle most of the outdoor use. McKinney National Airport on the east side is one of the busiest general aviation fields in the state.
Not sure which fits? Compare every loan program we place.
Frequently asked questions
Why do appraisals come in differently on the east and west sides of McKinney? Because comparable sales differ. West-side master-planned homes have dozens of near-identical recent neighbors, so adjustments are small and values are predictable. Historic east-side homes often have no true peer that sold recently, so the appraiser reaches further and adjusts more, widening the range of defensible values.
Will a restoration appraise for what I spent? Not automatically. An appraiser credits what comparable sales show the market paying. Without a comparable restored sale to point to, a meticulous restoration may not return its full cost on paper. Providing an itemized improvement list with dates and costs helps.
What are property taxes in McKinney, TX? Generally about 1.8% to 2.3% combined before any district assessment, varying by school district. Verify the parcel with the Collin Central Appraisal District.
Which school district is my McKinney address in? McKinney, Prosper, Frisco, Allen, Melissa or Lovejoy ISD, depending on the parcel. The boundaries do not follow neighborhoods. Verify by address with the district.
Why is my tax bill higher than the listing said? A sale resets the appraised value to market and the seller's exemptions end at closing. If the seller was over 65, their tax ceiling does not transfer to you, which can make the difference dramatic on long-held homes.
Can I finance a historic McKinney home that needs work? Yes. FHA 203(k) and Fannie Mae HomeStyle finance the purchase and repairs together against the after-improvement value. Confirm the historic design review will approve your scope before the appraisal is ordered on those plans.
What is a PID assessment and does McKinney have them? Yes, particularly in west and north McKinney. A Public Improvement District assessment repays infrastructure bonds, is charged on top of regular taxes, escrowed with them, and raises both your payment and your qualifying ratio.
Tell us which side of 75 you are shopping
The advice genuinely differs. A west-side purchase is about the district assessment and the lock. An east-side purchase is about the appraisal, the scope and the review.
Send us the address and we will tell you which conversation you are having.
Start your application · Run the numbers · Call 737-347-1314
Looking at a property in McKinney?
Send us the address and we will model the real payment — taxes, insurance and HOA included — before you write an offer.
Talk To A Loan OfficerNearby Areas
Nearby & Related