Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: co-housing unacceptable to Fannie Mae?!?

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On 24 Apr 2012, at 10:20 PM, Lyle Scheer wrote:

> I worry that what I hear is that people just shop around until they find
> someone who *is* willing.  Now, if they're not disclosing the issue, the
> willing entity may just not have seen the red flag.  If the lenders are
> getting better at seeing the red flags, this is just getting harder for
> all of us.

I did it last spring with none of these questions were even raised. Others here 
have refinanced in the last year as well. Several.

This is very bizarre. The appraisal probably is not transferrable but what you 
are being told I find very strange and not something anyone here has reported. 
I've refinanced three times since I moved here — lowering my monthly mortgage 
payment each time. Each time was with a different broker and bank combination. 
Nothing happened like this.

The idea that you have to "disclose" I find suspicious. Is he covering his own 
failure to produce by setting you up for more questions?

To my knowledge only one buyer or refi here has had a problem based on the 
right of first refusal (none because it is cohousing) and it was the one I 
mentioned before. Everyone I've talked to here believes he had a bad broker. We 
gave him a list of people to use and banks that had given us mortgages and he 
got the mortgage. I don't think he changed brokers, the broker just got 
convinced when he saw the list. That's my memory.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org