FHA Condo Certification and Renewals

Northeast Property Group has successfully completed FHA certifications and renewals for the Housing and Urban Development’s Federal Housing Authority (FHA) for both managed and unmanaged condominium properties. By acting as a consultant to your condominium association, our knowledgeable and experienced FHA specialists can work quickly to determine eligibility and get your property FHA approved. We will even work with your existing management company to obtain the necessary documents and records to gain FHA approval.

Why should a Board of Directors seek to have their condominium association FHA approved or renewed? Well there are several good reasons but it mostly comes down to two main points: increasing the pool of available purchasers and allowing current owners to refinance their existing loans and to do reverse mortgages.

Check HOA FHA Status:

To summarize, FHA certification for your condominium will mean:

  • HUD loans (FHA or CHFA) require low or no money down, vastly increasing the pool of potential condo buyers

  • A larger pool of buyers will mean a unit spends less time on the market and can increase sales prices (remember those supply and demand economics courses)

  • Current owners can refinance with a HUD and also perform reverse mortgages, a popular option for older unit owners

To start the certification process, give us a call at (860) 437-7005 or complete the short list of questions below.

What Our Services Entail

We will first do a spot check to look for any obvious reasons why your community association would not get approved (or recertified). Things like investor ratios, number of units owned by a single entity, budget figures can quickly reveal whether there is a chance a community can get approved.

After the spot check, we will present the Board a contract outlining the Board and our responsibilities. For projects that we don’t currently manage, this is important as there are many documents and reports that will need to be provided in order to facilitate the application process. Upon signing of the contract we will collect a retainer and the association will then only pay once the project has been successfully approved by HUD. (Certain conditions apply).

With a signed Agreement in hand, we will begin the records collection process. This includes, but is not limited to, legal documents, management agreement, FEMA flood maps, details of pending litigation and financial information. Much of this paperwork will come from the HOA or management company, however, due to recent changes by HUD, all legal documents now need to be true copies of the recorded documents which many HOA’s do not maintain. This would include the Declaration, all amendments, site plans etc.

Our team will review the compiled documents to look closer for any potential issues that HUD may have. This will help weed out any issues further down the road, delaying the approval process.

With all documents in order, a cover letter is prepared for HUD and the application is completed according to government’s specifications and guidelines. Northeast Property Group is presented as the agent for contact in case of any issues requiring clarification or further detail. Our office will maintain a record of all documents sent to HUD, including future renewal dates, and we will proactively contact the Board prior to a renewal deadline so that there is no lapse in FHA coverage.

Basic Qualifiers for Community Approval

65%
49%
15%
50%

Max 65% Renters Acceptable

Max Commercial Unit Ratio 49%

Max Percentage of Delinquent Owners 15%

Max FHA Concentration 50%

Insurance Requirements

  • Master or Blanket – Must be 100% of replacement cost of condominium, not including foundation or land

  • Fidelity Bond (aka Employee Dishonesty or Crime Policy) – for communities with 20+ units. Covers the Board of Directors and Employees that handle association funds. Must equal 3 months aggregate assessments of all units + Reserves.

  • Flood insurance – Only required if located within 100-year floodplain. If required, it must be 100% replacement cost issued by NFIP

  • General Liability – Insures all common elements, and public ways

Reserve Requirements

  • Reserve funding requirement – at least 10% of all budgeted income must go toward a reserve account

  • Adequate reserves