Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: FHA approval: yes or no?

[Elizabeth Rogers (elizabeth36936q]

Hi Deborah,

Here at La Querencia / Fresno Cohousing, we did go thru FHA approval almost
a year ago. We used FHA Review (fhareview.com) to help us with the
paperwork and submission. They charged us $900 or $950 to do it and it went
very smoothly.

We decided to pursue FHA approval largely because the real estate agent who
our developer hired to sell the last 6 homes here said that something like
70% of the homes in Fresno in our price range were being financed thru FHA.
So we thought it would help make us attractive to buyers. Some of us had
problems getting conventional loans because more than 10% of our homes were
owned by one entity (the developer). So hopefully FHA approval would
attract more purchasers and let them get a mortgage more easily.

FHA mortgages do allow lower down payments and have less strict credit
requirements than conventional loans. But they are, over the life of the
loan, more expensive for the buyer. So if you qualify for a conventional
loan, that's the way to go.

Turns out that none of the purchasers of our homes used FHA financing so it
kinda feels like a waste to me. But who knows. We more than a year before
the approval expires and we have to decide about renewing it. (FHA approval
used to be good forever but now it only lasts 2 years and then you have to
renew)

We don't have any low income units at LaQ.

Please let me know if you have other questions.

Elizabeth
(Marketing liaison for Fresno Cohousing)

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>
> Message: 3
> Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 14:03:18 -0700
> From: Deborah Carey <boiester [at] gmail.com>
> To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
> Subject: [C-L]_ FHA approval: yes or no?
> Message-ID: <582467B4-B949-4820-9597-654CACF1CBF7 [at] gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;       charset=us-ascii
>
> Hi,
> Our cohousing is considering getting FHA approval.  My understanding is
> that FHA homebuyer loans allow for a lower downpayment, and other credit
> aspects that encourage lower income folks to purchase a place.  I see also
> that the HUD has a website for finding them.
> https://entp.hud.gov/idapp/html/condlook.cfm.
>
> To decide we are creating a cost and benefit analysis.  Can you briefly
> tell me what the advantages and the disadvantages have been for your
> cohousing if you decided to get FHA approval?  If you decided not to get
> it, can you tell me if your reasoning was sound, or if you feel now that
> you should have done so?  Could you also tell me if the community in which
> you built had requirements for low income units?
>
> Thank you,
>
> Deborah Carey
> boiester [at] gmail.com
>
>
>
>
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