Friday, May 07, 2010

Lenders Refuse To Finance Condo Sale Where 15%+ Of Members Delinquent On HOA Fees, Leaving Unit Owner Unable To Unload Apartment

In Baltimore, Maryland, WBAL-TV Channel 11 reports:
  • The tightening of the mortgage industry is keeping one Glen Burnie man from selling his home. Dave Shaffer said he has a buyer for the home, but that buyer is having trouble getting a home loan because of a lending rule that's just recently been enforced.

  • Shaffer is disabled and unable to work. He said he can't afford to live in his condo community anymore, so he found a buyer to purchase it. Shaffer's home in the Elvation Towne Condominium neighborhood has been on the market for a year and a half. He said he was excited to find a buyer, had packed up his home and was ready to close on the deal last week.

  • "A day and a half before we were to go to closure, I was called and told the banks could not underwrite the loan," he said. Shaffer was told that more than 15 percent of the homeowners in his neighborhood are behind on their homeowners association fees, so his buyer couldn't get a loan. He said they tried many banks and mortgage companies. [...] He said he can't afford to stay in his home, can't refinance because he doesn't have a job and, if he can't sell his home soon, it'll go into foreclosure.

For more, see HOA Fee Law Keeps Man From Selling Home.