Ask a title company how many HOA disclosure packets a McDowell Mountain Ranch sale needs and the answer is almost always one: a request to the McDowell Mountain Ranch Community Association, and a fee that the Goodman Law Group says Arizona law caps at $400. That answer is correct for most of the community. It's wrong for sellers in Cachet, Castle Chase, Cimarron Hills, Cimarron Ridge, and the guard-gated Retreat section of 100 Hills, where the house sits inside two incorporated associations at once, each running its own ten-day clock and each entitled to charge its own capped fee. Nobody notices until the slower of the two associations becomes the reason the closing date moves.
McDowell Mountain Ranch is often described as a single master-planned community with one governing HOA and a long list of enclave names underneath it. That's true for the majority of its subdivisions. But a handful of those enclave names on the map represent something structurally different: a second, independently incorporated homeowners association layered on top of the master one, with its own board, its own amenities, its own dues, and its own legal obligations under Arizona's disclosure statute. The master association's own architectural guidelines already acknowledge this split. The question is whether the person managing your closing timeline knows it too.
The One-HOA Assumption
Every lot owner in McDowell Mountain Ranch belongs to the McDowell Mountain Ranch Community Association, known as MMRCA, which is managed day to day by Associated Asset Management out of Tempe. MMRCA is the entity that holds the CC&Rs, runs the Design Review Committee, and maintains the community centers, trails, and pools that show up in every MMR listing description. When a title company orders a resale disclosure packet, this is the association it contacts.
Arizona law caps the disclosure fee at $400 and allows an additional rush fee of up to $100 if the documents are needed within 72 hours. Those numbers apply to any single incorporated association in the state, MMRCA included. For a seller whose enclave has no second layer of governance, this is the whole story: one request, one bill.
Where the Second HOA Actually Lives
Cachet at McDowell Mountain Ranch describes itself on its own site as a sub-association within the master community, with 174 units and its own pool, fitness room, and clubhouse. That phrasing matters. A sub-association isn't a committee inside MMRCA. It's a separate legal entity, incorporated on its own, collecting its own assessment in addition to the MMRCA assessment.
Castle Chase is the same kind of entity. Centex built 172 single-story homes there in the late 1990s, and the neighborhood maintains its own private community center with a lap pool, spa, barbecue area, and fitness room, funded through Castle Chase Homeowners Association Inc, an incorporated association distinct from MMRCA.
Cimarron Hills carries an additional HOA fee that funds its guarded gate and a private recreation center with a negative-edge pool, spa, fitness center, and tennis courts, spread across 272 single-level homesites in three sub-communities: the Vistas, the Enclave, and the Villas. Cimarron Ridge, built by the same Toll Brothers lineage and easy to confuse with Cimarron Hills on a quick search, is its own separate 210-home enclave with its own private clubhouse, also featuring a negative-edge pool, spa, fitness center, and tennis courts. The shared architectural DNA and near-identical names make this pair the easiest to misfile in a transaction file.
100 Hills, home to the guard-gated Retreat section of custom estates, rounds out the group of enclaves the master association treats as structurally distinct from the rest of MMR.
| Enclave | Approx. homes | What its own dues fund | Governance status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cachet | 174 units | Pool, fitness room, clubhouse | Incorporated sub-association |
| Castle Chase | 172 homes | Lap pool, spa, BBQ area, fitness room | Incorporated sub-association (Castle Chase HOA Inc.) |
| Cimarron Hills | 272 homesites | Guarded gate, negative-edge pool, spa, fitness center, tennis courts | Incorporated sub-association |
| Cimarron Ridge | 210 homes | Private clubhouse, negative-edge pool, spa, fitness center, tennis courts | Incorporated sub-association |
| 100 Hills / The Retreat | Guard-gated custom estate section | Gate staffing, custom-home standards | Incorporated sub-association |
How MMRCA's Own Guidelines Treat These Enclaves
MMRCA's own Guide to Architectural Changes doesn't bury this distinction. It instructs that owners in One Hundred Hills, Castle Chase, and Cimarron Hills have to secure approval from their sub-association before they can even submit a request to MMRCA. That's a sequencing rule for exterior modifications, not for resale disclosure, but it confirms something a seller needs to internalize: MMRCA itself does not treat these enclaves as fully within its own governing authority. They answer to their own board first.
If that's true for a paint color or a patio addition, it's true for the paperwork a title company needs before it can close. The disclosure statement a buyer is legally entitled to review has to come from whichever entity actually holds the CC&Rs, the reserve study, and the financials for that specific piece of the community. In Cachet, Castle Chase, Cimarron Hills, Cimarron Ridge, and 100 Hills, that means two separate requests to two separate boards, not one request routed through MMRCA on everyone's behalf.
Two Disclosure Packets, Not One
Here's the part that catches sellers off guard. Arizona's $400 fee cap applies per association, not per transaction. A property in Cimarron Hills owes a disclosure packet from MMRCA and a separate one from the Cimarron Hills association.
The practical effect is that the transaction doesn't move on the faster of the two timelines. It moves on the slower one. If an escrow officer requests the MMRCA packet but overlooks the Cimarron Ridge packet until later, the second packet can delay the seller's carefully planned closing date.
This isn't a hypothetical specific to MMR. Any Arizona property inside two incorporated associations works this way. What makes it worth naming here is that MMR's map makes it easy to assume uniformity across enclaves that look similar from the street but are governed completely differently underneath. A buyer's agent unfamiliar with the difference between, say, Sunset Point (no second HOA) and Cimarron Ridge (a second HOA with its own clubhouse) has no obvious visual cue to prompt the second request.
What This Means Before You List
For a seller in one of these five enclaves, the fix is simple and has nothing to do with negotiating leverage. It's about sequencing the paperwork correctly from the start.
Before a listing goes active, confirm which associations govern the property and tell the title company that both disclosure packets may be needed. If a buyer's financing timeline is tight, a delay in obtaining the second packet can put pressure on the closing date.
It's also worth confirming, before a listing agreement is signed, which of MMR's enclaves the property actually sits in. Cimarron Hills and Cimarron Ridge share a developer lineage, nearly identical amenity packages, and names close enough to transpose in a CC&R search. Ordering the wrong association's packet, or assuming the two are the same entity, is an easy way to lose a week discovering the mistake.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does every McDowell Mountain Ranch subdivision have a second HOA? No. The great majority of MMR's enclaves answer only to MMRCA. The second layer applies specifically to Cachet, Castle Chase, Cimarron Hills, Cimarron Ridge, and the guard-gated 100 Hills section.
How can a seller confirm whether their home falls into one of these enclaves? The property's recorded CC&Rs will name the sub-association directly, and MMRCA's own architectural guidelines already flag Castle Chase, Cimarron Hills, and 100 Hills as requiring separate sub-association approval, which is a strong signal those enclaves carry separate governance for disclosure purposes as well.
Who typically pays the disclosure fees? Arizona law caps what each association can charge for preparing its disclosure statement at $400, with an additional rush fee of up to $100 if the documents are needed within 72 hours. The fee itself is set by statute regardless of who pays it.
Can this actually change a closing date? Yes. A delayed request for the second packet can put a closing date at risk.
Selling a home in one of these enclaves means managing two associations, not one, and confirming that both disclosure packets are accounted for before escrow is underway. If you're weighing a sale inside Cachet, Castle Chase, Cimarron Hills, Cimarron Ridge, or 100 Hills and want a clear read on how that second HOA affects your timeline, Rachel Kohn can walk through what your specific enclave requires before you list.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
