Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac requirements for Co-ops in Jersey City

[Sandro Hagenbuch]

Hi all,

My wife and I are in the process of purchasing a coop unit in Jersey City downtown (offer accepted and about to start to go into Attorney Review). 

Our lender (credit union) has mentioned that our coop has to adhere to the Fannie Mae / Freddie Mac guidelines and I just wanted to get more clarification on that. I started to read on Fannie Mae about the requirements though there are a lot.

My question is whether some of you have already gone through this process and what your experience is? In addition to the credit union (which gives a better mortgage rate and a 2nd mortgage for another 10%, so in total 90% financing), a real estate broker offered a .25% higher rate and only 80%, residual 10% would have to be via PMI. Do conventional lenders adhere to the same kind of Fannie Mae/ Freddie Mac guidelines or are they less strict?

Thanks in advance for your reply,

Sandro