Important FHA Info from Assistant Vice President at Virginia Commerce Bank

I thought this would be important information for you and your peers regarding presently approved FHA condos. All condos that were approved prior to Oct/08 will have to be reapproved by 12/07/2010.

Condominium Project approvals will expire two years from the date it has been placed on the list of approved condominiums. This will also apply to all projects currently on the list of approved condominiums. Further participation in the program after this two-year period has expired will require recertification to determine that the project is still in compliance with HUD’s owner-occupancy requirement and that no conditions currently exist which would present an unacceptable risk to FHA

I checked on FHA Connection and there are a ton of them stating that the approval will expire on 12/07/2010. I also talked with an FHA representative who said that notices were sent out regarding this but only to lenders, not the HOA Associations. I talked to a HOA representative yesterday who's approval was about to expire and they did not even know.

Here is an email I got from a FHA representative

"If a condominium is expiring on 12/7/2010 and not recertified prior to that date, no case numbers will be assigned after that deadline. Any case numbers that were assigned prior to that date with a signed contract will be honored even if they close after that date"

If you have a buyer who is sitting on the fence to buy a condo with FHA, you should do 2 things:

Check on the FHA Connection site to see if the condo approval is pending expiration 12/07/2010. (there are a ton of them) https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/condlook.cfm

Recommend to your buyer that they write a contract as soon as possible. Have your lender apply for a FHA case number right away. Some lenders apply for this when the appraisal is ordered and some do not. Make sure it is ordered prior to 12/07/2010 as if the condo approval expires the lender CANNOT get an FHA case # and the deal is dead.

Warmest Regards
Michele
Michele Sherrill
Assistant Vice President
Virginia Commerce Bank
Direct: 703-282-3566
Fax: 703-636-2673
msherrill@vcbonline.com