Found another reason folks don't like condos

[Kelley B.]

Two days before closing my lender advises that neither FNMA nor FMMC would buy my loan. Only financing 70% of appraised value. 81 of the 86 units are non owner-occupied so they didn't want it. Non-warrantable.

Of course I'm out the $500 appraisal fee and $150 for some condo cert or something. Seems like the lender would have known up front that Fannie and Freddie didn't buy that paper. 

Should the lender have known or are the guidelines constantly changing? (Their story)

[Mehran K.]

The lender should have checked on that as pretty much one of the first things when considering the property. Some times it takes things like this to come up as learning experiences though. Guidelines are changing, but that rule about the condo owner to renter ratio has been around for a while now!

Understanding conventional loan guidelines is so important. It's one of the first things I focused heavily on learning greatly, and it's been very rewarding having that knowledge.