It's time for a change, that's right, a change.

I have had too many conversations with my realtor partners telling me how frustrating it is to consistently have contracts cancelled on their condo listings, or condo buy side business, because the lender didn't approve the association.

Empathizing with the frustration, I've decided to implement a change within my team's review process to mitigate deal fallout and support my realtor partners in growing their condominium business efficiently and successfully.

So what does this look like? Think about it, when doing a listing presentation, have the conversation with the seller up-front, in that not only are they selling the interior space of a condominium, but they're also selling the association as well. The majority of purchase transactions use mortgage financing, and all lenders need to approve the association in order to fund the loan, but the current standard operating procedure doesn't begin the condo review process until mid-way through the transaction. This is where the famous struggles of listing condominiums come into play.

This is why I have decided to implement a new process to overcome this frustration – which starts by completing the condo association review up front.

Going forward with all my realtor partner's listings, agents have the ability to reach out and have us complete a full review of their listed property. Once completed, we can provide the agent and their client the factual details in order to know what type of buyers can make an offer and purchase this condominium. No guess work, just the facts. Using this information, the agent can market the property specifically to the buyers we know can close and fund successfully. We can all agree that homebuyers that put down less money down sometimes provides for a greater sales price. Think about it, in our experience, 20-25% of the time associations pass what's called a full review, and roughly 75-80% of the time will fail –with that said, don't you deserve to know upfront if they're lender will actually fund on that offer? On the flip side, agents who choose to accept cash buyers because of previous frustrations from financed offers, might be leaving a sizeable amount of money on the table! And perhaps that condominium and it's association can actually pass a full review. We are taking the guesswork out and providing you with the answers you need to identify the offers you can accept upfront.

What about the pains of working with homebuyers seeking condominiums? With the current standard, these buyers have to fork over thousands of dollars for inspections, appraisals and questionnaires before the lender reviews the association to confirm if they can even fund and lend on the property. Why does this have to wait until after these dollars have been wasted? They don't, at least not anymore.

For our partner's that specialize in supporting buyers, we will help you negotiate into the contract to have the condo review completed before the appraisal and inspection are completed – saving everyone involved in the transaction time and money! We want our partners to be armed up front with everything they need to know before entering into the transaction – the way we believe it should be.

I pride myself on going against the grain. There is no need for condo financing to take such an emotional and financial toll on all parties involved – call me directly, I would love to speak to you further about this subject at 561-864-2458.  

As a reminder, we will be having our next Facts and Figures: State of the Market Call next Tuesday the 14th at 11:45am. This is a fantastic opportunity for those agents seeking to become the authority on real estate in their respective communities. 1x a month, the 2nd Tuesday of each month, for 15 minutes is all it takes to help make you the go to agent in your community. If you have not already RSVP, please do so by sending an email to [email protected] or by calling me at 561-864-2458. I look forward to having you join us.

Thank you all for joining me, I appreciate you. So please reach out to me and let us discuss how we can be of service and how we can expand your condominium business at 561-864-2458.

I appreciate you joining me today, hopefully you can find a way to apply your shot into today, until tomorrow, have a better day today than yesterday.

The views of this blog, "Your Morning Shot" podcast, and on this site in general are solely those of the authors, Matt Weaver (NMLS-175651) and Zack Lewis, and do not express the views or opinions of Finance of America Mortgage.