New Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac Condo Rules: What Buyers & Sellers Need to Know

If you work in real estate, own a condo, or you're thinking about buying one, there's a recent lending change worth knowing about. Starting August 3rd, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac changed how condo projects are reviewed for conventional financing, including eliminating some of the streamlined review options lenders previously had. Here's the important part. You can have a great condo in great condition with a qualified buyer and still run into a financing problem because of the association. Things like inadequate reserves, deferred maintenance, insurance issues, or other project level concerns can affect whether that condo qualifies for conventional financing. It can impact the buyer pool, days on market, and ultimately value. When we're looking at condos today, we can't just look at the unit. We have to look at the health of the entire association, too.