Condominium Mortgage
 

Is owning a condo for you?

A condo is a vertical subdivision and when you own one you do not own the walls, you own airspace. This is the space between the walls and the ceiling and floor. The actual structure is owned by the homeowners association. They also own the majority of the common areas and that is why it is their responsibility for the upkeep of these areas. There is an exception to this rule and that is when you are buying into planned developments.

These developments have you purchasing condo townhouses and the land beneath your unit. In these cases you would be responsible for the inside of your condo but the homeowners association will have to maintain the outside.
 
Now that you have decided to get a condo you need to decide whether or not to get a new one. Everyone wants to purchase new but there are some serious drawbacks to doing this. Almost every building will have its fair share of kinks and building defects. If you were to purchase older condos there would be more of a chance that these defects have been taken care of. And if you are buying new you could run into other problems due to these defects. Such as sales being held up. This happens when the homeowners association has to sue the developer in order to get the defects fixed. Lenders will not be wanting to approve loans when there is a lawsuit pending.

It is not uncommon for the homeowner's association fees to rise quite quickly. This is primarily because the developers start off with the fees low and it takes awhile for the association to realize just how much they are going to need in order to cover all of the expenses that need to be taken care of.

If you are buying a resale condo you need to do your homework. This way of purchasing has some seriously advantageous qualities such as being able to talk to other owners. By asking them some important questions you can find out if this is someplace that you really want to buy. Be sure to ask them what they like about this complex as well as what they really don't like. You might also want to ask them about the other tenants who live there, are any of them trouble makers? These types of questions can be a big help when it comes to making your final decision.

Getting a condo mortgage is always a good idea no matter how well off you are and what you can afford. Even if you have enoug h money to buy your condo outright you should still get a condo mortgage. This gives you the flexibility that you may need if it turns out that you do not want to continue living in this particular condo. When you get a mortgage you will not be committing such a huge amount of your money to something that may not work out.

In order to avoid buying a bad condo you will need to some key questions. These questions include:

Is the condo complex managed? By who? If it turns out that it is not professionally managed you should ask why.

How much money does the homeowners association have? Before you buy your condo you should take a close look at their financials, in fact you should even make the sale contingent on them looking good. You might also want to ask if they are planning on raising their fees in the next few months.

Find out how much your fees will be and what other fees in the area are like. This will allow you to get an idea of how the funds are managed.

Ask about the contracts and leases, are there any special ones?

Mortgage Insurance for your Condo:

FHA 's mortgage insurance programs are a wonderful invention that has changed the way that  lenders lend money. It is these loans that make it possible for people to get a loan to purchase a condo and own more than simply their own unit. When you purchase a condo you will own not only this unit but also parts of each common area. And since it is so important for renters to have their interests insured they will receive protection from being displaced when their apartment building gets turned into condos.

Your loan can be protected for up to 30 years in order to buy a condo, the condo building has to have at least 4 units and they can be semidetached, detached, they can be in the form of a row house, units with an elevator or walk ups. You will need to get this loan just as you would any other from a lending institution and it will be insured by the Federal Housing Administration or the FHA under 234(c). You do not need to put much of a down payment down in order to get this insurance it can be as little as 3 percent. The fact that FHA insurance allows for buyers to get over 97 percent of their home they are getting to be more and more popular.

You can even get some of the closing costs financed, this is especially useful to those with lower incomes. You will find that FHA will also limit the amount of money that others can charge you for their fees and they will also set some limits of the overall size of your mortgage. These limits will be dependent on where the purchase is located and how many units you are going to be buying.

There are other restrictions that involve 234 (c), for example insurance cannot be given unless the condos have been condos for at least one year, if the person applying for the insurance used to rent from the complex or if the complex was only converted because that is what the tenants wanted, the majority of them anyway, There will need to be at least 80 percent of FHA insured mortgages that are made to owner occupants.