Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Fannie Mae

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

(I forgot to hit send on this so it maybe out of the flow of  
conversation)

On Aug 4, 2010, at 10:11 AM, Michael Barrett wrote:

> This may be obvious (to all except me) but can someone please  
> explain why
> lenders object to the right of first refusal.

They believe it limits their ability to foreclose and sell the unit.  
Even if it is a 3 day window, they don't like it. I think it maybe  
that they have a blanket rule rather than actually looking at the  
actual length of time and conditions.

>  how right of first refusal works.

Right of first refusal means that no one can purchase until the entity  
with right of first refusal has refused to purchase.

There are many different conditions set by contract but in our case,  
the seller must notify the Homeowners Association (HOA) of their  
intent to sell. The HOA has 45 days in which it can purchase the unit.  
If the seller finds a buyer after those 45 days, we still have three  
days to buy the unit at the contracted price.

In our case, we have waived the 45 day period when a seller has found  
a buyer before they expired. And could probably not get ourselves  
together to use the 3 days. The reason for the 3 days in addition to  
the 45 days is that the HOA might have wanted to buy at a certain  
price that the seller refused, but when a real contract sets a price,  
the HOA can then exercise its right to buy at that price.

Then the issue arises of discrimination. There are legally protected  
classes that I'm not sure about, but the common basis used for charges  
of discrimination are against minorities and gays and lesbians. Since  
we have all of those included in our community already, it would be  
foolish to charge discrimination. It would cost everyone money and be  
unlikely to produce anything for anyone. We even had a lawyer for the  
ACLU here so she would certainly have taken our case. (She died of  
cancer two years ago.)

Sharon
---
Sharon Villines
Wen the heat index is 110, walk fast to get out of the sun or walk  
slowly to avoid falling over.