Boston Condos for Sale and Apartments for Rent
Boston condos for sale: How to tell if its FHA Approved
FHA approval requirements for condos
Before you get started buying an FHA-approved Boston condo for sale, make sure you know what condos need in order to qualify for FHA-approval:
- According to HUD, the property or project must be completed, which means if a Boston high-rise condo complex is still in the process of being built, it won’t qualify.
- No more than 50 percent of units can be used as rentals or be investor-owned. This means you have to buy the unit and actually live in it.
- The Boston condo complex must be insured and the condo association must keep at least 10 percent of the condo association budget in a cash reserve.
- No more than 35 percent of the property can be for commercial use.
There are other restrictions, such as forbidding FHA loans for units in condotels (condos that have many hotel-like amenities and which rent units to vacationers) or for condos in undesirable areas, such as close to a landfill or airport.
What is the process of getting a Boston condo FHA-approved?
Boston condos for sale that are looking to accept buyers borrowing an FHA loan have to go through an approval process and get recertified every three years to remain eligible for FHA loans.
FHA Boston Condo Spot Approval
Under the new 2022 rules, individual condo units can be eligible for FHA loans even if the full development isn’t FHA-approved. This type of single-unit approval is called spot approval.
FHA; The approval process for Boston condo buildings
The approval process varies depending on the original structure requesting approval. For instance, older buildings might have a longer approval process than new projects.
Condo developments looking to get approved need to complete the HUD Review and Approval Process (HRAP) or Direct Endorsement Lender Review and Approval Process (DELRAP) for lenders. Once a condo is approved through HRAP or DELRAP, it’ll receive a condo ID used for the project, as well as a submission number.
Pros and cons of FHA-approved condos
Pros
- Higher applicant pool – HUD estimates that 84 percent of FHA-insured condo buyers have never owned a home before. This allows condominiums to keep open units to a minimum and increases the number of potential buyers who can be approved for mortgages.
- Flexible terms for owners – FHA-approved condos offer the same flexibility that traditional homes do: low down payments, more lenient credit requirements, and the government owns the loan rather than a private lender.
- More choices for potential buyers – The more FHA-approved condos there are, the more opportunities for families to own homes and build equity, rather than rent.
Cons
- Mortgage insurance is required – Mortgage insurance is required for FHA loans since they accept less than 20 percent for a down payment. This will increase the cost of your monthly payments.
- Recertification is required – For condos, the recertification paperwork can be considerable, even though the recertification process now occurs every three years instead of two.
- Units still limited – “It’s important to know that it’s not open-ended in terms of the amount of FHA financing that can be done in a building,” says Esther Phillips, senior vice president of Key Mortgage Services in Chicago. “Only a certain number of condos can be FHA-financed in a non-FHA approved building.”
Updated: Boston Real Estate Blog 2022
Click to View Google Reviews
If you find a Boston condo you like, how can you tell if the condominium and the Boston condo building is FHA approved.?
