Imagine as a single family home purchaser, your agent says that they are going to show you homes in your price range this coming weekend. You get all excited, go on Zillow, preview the dozens of places sure to be in your price range, imagining the joy of picking out new furniture and moving in.
The weekend arrives as does your agent, and off you go, looking at a few places, but you’re not really excited about any. But you know there are dozens more to look at so you don’t despair. That is until your agent drives you back home instead of to the next townhouse you know is on the market. Welcome to the world of the FHA condo buyer.
Since only 6% of condominium associations are FHA approved, the FHA condo buyer can only look at and buy in 6% of the units listed for sale. In many areas, the percentage is even smaller.
This sobering fact is why there is a silent wave of FHA condo buyers just waiting for the chance to look at all the properties on the market before making a decision on which to buy.
With the implementation of Single Unit Approval, FHA condo buyers will no longer be restricted to purchasing units in associations that are FHA approved. This landmark federal legislation opens up lending in communities that no longer have to go through the time-consuming and laborious process that is FHA approval, in most cases.
Whether the industry knows it or not, this new program is going to swell the number of purchases by buyers using FHA-insured mortgages by record numbers. Every seller of a condominium should rejoice at the added value this demand increase will confer. Real estate agents should be popping the champagne to celebrate that their FHA condo buyer actually is going to have, you know, many more choices!
Single Unit Approval might not seem like a small adjustment to current guidelines, but its effects are sure to be anything but small, on the number of FHA mortgages insured for purchase inside condominium associations.