Picture two homes in McCormick Ranch, both listed at $950,000, both three bedrooms, both a few blocks from a lake. The listing sheets look nearly identical. The subdivision-level dues can differ: one may be roughly $17 a month, while another may be $650 or more. Both homes also owe MRPOA's $265 annual assessment.
The difference reflects McCormick Ranch's two HOA layers: the master association and the subdivision association each have their own fees and rules.
Understanding the Two HOA Layers
Those layers are the master association, MRPOA, and the association for the home's subdivision.
The first layer is the McCormick Ranch Property Owners' Association, known to residents as MRPOA. Every property in the master plan belongs to it. For 2026, the residential assessment is a flat $265 a year, with statements mailed in early January and payment due in mid-February. That fee is easy to find because MRPOA publishes it directly and every closing disclosure in the community references it.
The second layer is different for every buyer, because it depends on which of McCormick Ranch's roughly 67 subdivisions the home sits in. Each subdivision runs its own homeowners association, with its own management company, its own budget, its own architectural rules, and its own due. MRPOA does not set or standardize these fees. Buyers should confirm the subdivision-level fee with the relevant association.
What $265 a Year Actually Buys You
It helps to know exactly what MRPOA's fee covers, because the scope is narrower than most buyers assume. MRPOA enforces the community-wide CC&Rs, maintains common areas, and runs an annual weed control program across both turf and desert landscaping in shared spaces and the City of Scottsdale medians that run through the Ranch. The association also maintains more than 2,500 established trees planted decades ago as part of the original master plan, and it worked from a Landscape Master Plan approved by the City of Scottsdale in 2016 to guide parkway median improvements between Scottsdale Road and Hayden Road.
What MRPOA does not do is govern your specific street, your specific pool, your specific gate, or your specific paint palette. That authority sits entirely with your subdivision's own association. If you want to rent your home short term, repaint your front door, or park a trailer in your driveway, the answer lives in a document MRPOA has never seen and has no jurisdiction over.
The 67 Different Answers to "What's the HOA?"
MRPOA itself maintains a public directory of the management companies running each subdivision. It includes names like Artesia, managed by Artesia Management Co, Belcara, also known as Monaco, managed by Brown Property Management, Casabella, managed by Associated Property Management, Casa Serena, also known as La Mariposa I, which is self-managed, Camello Vista, managed by Tri-City Property Management, and Casa Dia Festivo, managed by Kinney Management. That is six names out of dozens, and each one operates on its own schedule with its own board.
The dues attached to those names span a wide range. A subdivision like Paseo Village runs closer to $200 a year, similar in scale to MRPOA's own master fee. A guard-gated enclave like Las Palomas runs $650 a month or more, because that fee is funding a private gate, a private guard staff, and amenities MRPOA never touches. Sandpiper, a 24-hour guard-gated community inside the Ranch, offers residents access to eight pools as part of its own subdivision amenities, a level of infrastructure that a $265 annual master fee was never designed to fund.
Price alone does not predict which side of that gap a home falls on. A three-bedroom single-family home in a subdivision like Heritage Terrace or Tierra Feliz can land anywhere from roughly $850,000 to $1.25 million depending on updates and lot orientation, while a patio home in Meridian or La Mariposa Villas can start lower, in the $725,000 to $950,000 range. Two homes at similar price points in different subdivisions can carry due structures that are not remotely comparable, and the only way to know before writing an offer is to ask which of the 67 you are actually buying into.
Why the Gap Exists
The reason this structure exists is not an oversight. It is what happens when one governing body is responsible for shared infrastructure across an entire master plan, while another layer is responsible for hyper-local amenities that only a fraction of residents actually use.
MRPOA's assessment applies across the Ranch, while subdivision associations handle their own amenities and rules. MRPOA covers common ground, medians, and community-wide CC&R enforcement; private pool complexes are part of the subdivision-level picture.
Subdivision dues vary with the amenities each association provides. A subdivision with a guard gate and a private pool has ongoing costs associated with those amenities; a subdivision with no shared amenities beyond basic landscaping may have lower dues beyond its MRPOA assessment.
In practice, the master association and roughly 67 subdivision associations each have their own fees and documents.
What to Actually Request Before You Write an Offer
Because the sub-HOA layer is where the real financial and behavioral rules live, the due diligence that matters happens at the subdivision level, not the master community level. Before writing an offer in McCormick Ranch, it is worth requesting:
- The specific subdivision's current HOA budget and reserve study, not just the master MRPOA assessment notice
- The subdivision's governing documents and any recorded CC&R amendments specific to that association
- Written confirmation of the subdivision's short-term rental bylaw, since restrictions vary association to association and are not standardized across the Ranch
- The resale disclosure packet the subdivision's management company issues, which typically outlines pending special assessments, litigation, and rule changes
- Contact information for the specific management company handling that subdivision, since MRPOA's own office cannot answer questions about a sub-HOA's finances or rules
A buyer who only reviews the $265 MRPOA statement has confirmed the cheaper, more visible half of the obligation and skipped the half that actually varies.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does MRPOA have access to my subdivision's HOA documents? No. MRPOA governs common areas and community-wide CC&Rs across the master plan. Each subdivision's financials, rules, and disclosure packets are held by that subdivision's own management company, not by MRPOA.
If a listing doesn't mention a sub-HOA fee, does that mean there isn't one? Not necessarily. A listing may reference only the MRPOA assessment because that figure is standardized and easy to cite. The subdivision-level due still applies and should be confirmed separately with that subdivision's management company.
If you are comparing homes across McCormick Ranch's 67 subdivisions and want the sub-HOA picture before you write an offer, not after, that is exactly the kind of groundwork Preston Matchett does before a client ever sees a listing. Schedule a free consultation and get the full governance and fee picture for the specific subdivision you are considering, not just the number on the master community's assessment notice.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
