New rules make condo buying trickier

Some new guidelines might put another squeeze on the market, and it could mean the difference between affording a condo or missing out.

The Federal Housing Administration is requiring condos to be what they call “re-certified” in order to offer mortgages.

“It’s a specific type of loan that many first-time buyers use,” says Eldad Moraru of Long and Foster. “The attractiveness of it is that the down-payment requirement is significantly lower, between 3 and 5 percent.”

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