Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Seeking sample condominium docs (Declaration, Bylaws, Rules and Regs)

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Mar 6, 2015, at 9:49 AM, Diana Carroll <dianaecarroll [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> Be sure to get professional advice from someone who works in or with the
> mortgage industry on what language will be acceptable to potential lenders.
> The last thing you want is for no one in your community to be able to get a
> mortgage or refi because of something wacky in your docs.

Do we have actual examples in which lenders wouldn't lend based on the bylaws. 
People say all kinds of things, particularly mortgage brokers, that are not 
substantiated.

We had one instance of mortgage broker saying a bank wouldn't lend based on 
their belief that the FHA refused to insure a loan with a right of first 
refusal clause. The next bank was no problem. In the end it was believed to be 
an inexperiences mortgage broker.

Another broker said a bank refused a refi because an appraisal that said we 
weren't a normal condo and thus there was no comparable. I asked for details on 
which bank and to see the appraisal and got no information. The broker took it 
to another bank with no problem.

Aside from the period when the FHA was going nuts and everyone was having 
problems, I keep reading the same general cautions but not seeing evidence. 
Just because an isolated broker or bank officer says something, doesn't make it 
true. And there are a LOT of banks out there.

Our bylaws include right of first refusal and it has been a problem with only 
one bank. It's been 15+ years of mortgages and many refinances. This has been a 
period in which interest rates have fallen so many have refinanced 2-3 times. 
One unit has been sold 3 times. Others twice. So we have a lot of points where 
there would have been objections. My guess is 150-200 times. There might have 
been some objections that I haven't heard about, of course, but nothing so 
major that the Board or Admin Team became concerned or even involved in.

I called my bank a few years ago, Wells Fargo, and finally got through to a 
person who would review our bylaws (don't remember the department). She asked 
what who I was having problems with. I said I was a board member and we wanted 
to know if there was anything in the bylaws that would concern Wells Fargo. She 
that said there is nothing in here that we even care about. All we care about 
is insurance. 

(I'm fairly sure this was Wells Fargo. It's been a number of years but I've 
always been financed by a major bank. The other one would have been Citibank.)

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