By Kenneth R. Harney | Washington Post Writers Group
WASHINGTON — For young first-time buyers, people with modest down-payment cash or seniors who want to tap their equity using a reverse mortgage, it’s a growing problem: They cannot use Federal Housing Administration financing in condominiums.
It’s not that these buyers and unit owners can’t qualify on credit and income grounds for a loan personally — they often can. Instead, it’s because the entire condominium development is ineligible. As the result of policy changes at the federal level and decisions by condominium boards of directors, thousands of communities have essentially become prohibited lending zones for FHA in the past several years.
