Can you still buy a non-warrantable condo?
Yes. You just cannot use a standard conventional loan. Your options narrow to portfolio loans, which a bank keeps on its own books, and non-QM loans from specialty lenders. Expect a bigger down payment, often 15 to 30 percent, a higher rate than conventional, and more cash left in the bank after closing. FHA and VA keep their own condo approval lists, so a building that fails with Fannie Mae is not automatically dead for them. It is not automatically alive either.
Here is the part people miss. A non-warrantable building is also harder to sell, because your buyer runs into the same wall you did. If you buy one, buy it knowing that, and pay a price that reflects it.
How do you find out before you make an offer?
Get the building checked before you fall in love with the unit. Ideally before you write, and absolutely before you remove contingencies.
Ask for the HOA documents up front. Budget, reserve study, master insurance declarations, twelve months of meeting minutes, and any special assessment notices. A listing agent who cannot produce those quickly is telling you something about the building.
Read the minutes. Boards write down what they are worried about. Litigation, leaks, the roof bid that came in at triple the reserve balance. It is all in there if you look.
Then put your lender on the building. Joe can start the condo project review early, sometimes before the offer even goes in, and tell you whether the building is going to clear. If it will not, you find out while you still have options, not after you have paid for inspections and an appraisal.
And get fully underwritten before you shop, not just prequalified. Joe Tishkoff at Lower is a four decade veteran of home loans and has done more condo files than most lenders have done loans. If you want to start the conversation, you can start your application with Joe here. It takes a few minutes and it puts you in a completely different position when the right unit shows up.
