HUD/FHA May be Moving to Ease Some Condo Rules.

Not much detail or sourcing, but Kenneth Harney column is HERE.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Oregon FHA Condos, 1st Half CY 2011: Klamath County Had 43% of Home Purchase Condo Loans Outside Portland Metro Area.

I have done some analysis of FHA condo loans that are included in the purchase and refi loan totals for Oregon for the first half of CY 2011. That data is in the two page table HERE.

My impression has been that FHA was one of the few lending sources for condos but the low count of FHA condo loans in the first half makes me wonder if other lending sources are being used or if there is continuing difficulty in obtaining condo financing. [Full disclosure-I have only lived in condos during my home ownership years].

Some observations about first half FHA condo loans in Oregon:

1. There were only 151 home purchase condo loans insured.
2. Only 10 FHA condo loans were made outside of the 3 county Portland metro area. Those 10 loans included 7 purchase loans and 3 refinance loans; of the 7 purchase loans outside the Portland metro area 3 (43%) were in Klamath county/Klamath Falls.
3. There were 202 condo loans of all types made in the 5 Portland metro counties out of a universe of 3,720 home purchase and refinance loans in those same 5 counties.
4. FHA condo loans of all types represented only 3.1% of the statewide total of FHA purchase and refi loans (excluding HECM's), that share increased slightly to 5.4% of the FHA purchase and refi loans in the 5 county Portland metro area.
5. For FHA home purchase loans, condos represented 3.5% of statewide all home purchase loans, and 6.1% in the 5 county Portland metro area. 
6. Washington county had the largest county count of condo loans, with 101.
7. Portland had the largest city count of FHA insured condos with 113 (34 of these were in Washington county, 4 were in Clackamas county, and 75 were in Multnomah county).

 Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog. 

Florida FHA Condo Defaults.

CNN Money story HERE helps explain why FHA condo approval requirements have tightened:

Now, however, 28% of the FHA condo loans in Florida are seriously delinquent. In Broward County alone, four in 10 condo owners are behind in their payments.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

FHA Loosens Condo Approval Policies.

Says Miami News Herald story HERE. Reported changes from the story:

• Increase from 30 percent to 50 percent the number of units in a project that can be financed with FHA loans. FHA, however, will make exceptions, even allowing up to 100 percent, when buildings meet an additional set of more stringent criteria.

• Require at least 50 percent of units in a complex to be owner-occupied or sold to owners who plan to live in the units. Bank-owned units may be disqualified from the percentage calculation.

• Reduce a pre sale requirement in new construction to 30 percent, compared with 70 percent for loans from conventional lenders.

Two recent FHA Mortgagee Letters on condos provide details:

• Condo Approval Policy
• Temporary Guidance for Condo Policy

Note: Permanent link in right pane ("FHA Mortgagee Letters" ) provides link to ALL FHA Mortgagee Letters.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog

New FHA Condo Guidelines Going into Effect Soon.

Boston.com story HERE .

Link in story to Condo guidelines is incorrect. HERE is the correct link to the actual FHA mortgagee letter in MS Word format.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.

Easy Check to See if Condo is FHA Approved.

To customize your search, choose from multiple pull downs and data entry fields available from the HUD website HERE.

TIP: Selecting, "Portland", "Oregon" in pull downs and leaving everything else at the defaults will return listing of ALL Oregon FHA approved condos (currently 361 projects).