Condo Approvals - FHA, VA, FNMA Approval Service

Condo Approvals
A service for builders, lenders, Realtors to help get new condominium or conversion projects approved by FHA, VA & FNMA

Condo Approvals was a service to help developers obtain project approvals for the given agencies of Fannie, FHA and VA. This approval was necessary so that lenders can provide financing to borrowers of your condominium units. They work on new construction projects and condominium conversions.

Training & Consulting
Condo Approvals offered several options when it comes to the condominium approval process. They could take your project from start-to-finish in the approval process. Or, they do consulting on an as-needed basis for you and your staff on how to work with the condominium paperwork and the given agency requirements. The consulting work is done on an hourly basis, and if this is your first time working on a condominium project it is highly recommended.

The Condominium Approval process involves the Developer, Attorney, Construction Lender, Listing Agent
The Developer will normally choose a lender at the advice of his listing agent. At times you will see several developers developing condos for the first time. A developer should first hire an attorney who will prepare the legal documents. The developer should hire an attorney who is familiar with the FNMA, VA, and FHA guidelines.

The Attorney works with the lender and developer to prepare the legal documents for the condominium project. The attorney needs to be familiar with FNMA, VA, and FHA regulations. He will prepare the public offering statement, and the opinion letters to FNMA, VA, and FHA. He will also work with the title company and county on recording of the legal documents he has prepared.

The Construction Lender works with the developer during the loan process, although on occasion you will see a project developed with private funds. The construction lender will determine how they are paid off. Sometimes it will be x number of units, or unit by unit. The construction lender can dictate who the take-out lender is (who will finance the purchasers of the units), and often the construction lender also does the take-out loans. The loan officer should be familiar with the construction lender and how they will be handling the payoffs on a given project.

The Listing Agent works with the developer on the marketing of the project. The listing agent should be familiar with marketing condominium projects, and should be able to generate a tracking report of sales in the project. This will help the developer and the take-out lender determine the presale of the project.

Presale requirement for Fannie Mae
70% of the total units in the project must have been conveyed to owner occupants and second home purchasers. No single entity (the same individual, investor group, partnership, or corporation) may own more than 10% of the total units in the project. If the project is phased, then each phase needs to stand on its own. Fannie Mae will look at the overall presale of the project and use it as a compensating factor. The Veterans Administration will combine phases to meet the 70% figure, but FNMA (Fannie Mae) will not.