As has been widely reported lately, Fannie Mae, which is under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has developed a secret blacklist of condominiums, HOAs and co-ops that are ineligible for “conventional financin…
According to a recent investigative piece by the Orange County (Florida) Register , Fannie Mae is keeping a secret “blacklist” of condominium, HOA and cooperative properties which the federal agency has decreed that lenders should st…
According to a new study by Construction Coverage examining where and to what degree homebuyers are most impacted by rising mortgage interest rates, those rates are now more than double what they were in early 2021. As a result, spirali…
The importance of saving for a rainy day is a lesson we all learn as children. Just like we as individuals should put away a little something for that ‘just-in-case’ moment, co-op corporations and condominium associations must also keep res…
As community members, co-op and condo owners work together to maintain the greater structure in which they live – not just their individual units. Major systems – things like boilers, roofs, and facades – are expensive to maintain and repai…
‘Jumbo loans.’ It’s a term we hear frequently and see advertised regularly. But what exactly is a jumbo loan, and how did ‘jumbos’ come to be? Origins The world of home loans -- including co-op and condo mortgages -- has changed and evo…
There are few feelings worse than encountering an unexpected expense and finding the piggy bank empty. That is why reserve funds and reserve studies are such important elements in the financial well-being of co-ops, condos, and homeowners’ …
You work hard and try to put money away to be used for a rainy day —hoping of course that that ‘rainy day’ is a long-awaited trip to somewhere fabulous and tropical. Then, boom—the brakes on your car suddenly go, or one of the kids needs br…
Like single-family homes, condominium units tend to be owner-occupied. Financing for these units therefore tends to follow traditional guidelines and requirements centered on owner occupancy. But what happens when a condo unit is held as an…
While most purchasers of condos and co-ops prefer conventional fixed-rate financing, there is a substantial market for variable rate co-op and condo mortgages. Generally referred to as ARMs (adjustable rate mortgages), these instruments ca…