I just came back from our monthly Past President's luncheon at our local Hilton Head Area Association of Realtors. All of the Past Presidents of our local Hilton Head Area SC Association meet to discuss what's happening in the market, the community, the state and the country pertaining to Real Estate.
We often share ideas or stories on what our experiences are, not to mention any trends that we are all seeing across our industry. One of our Past Presidents is a very prominent and successful local lender that has been in the industry for more than 35 years. As we all ate lunch and shared our market stories (good and bad), he noticed one common factor...LOANS ARE GETTING HARDER AND HARDER TO DO.
He then interjected and went on to discuss Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae's increasingly difficult and ever changing requirements. He said that the requirements that these loans need to meet are making it extremely difficult to even qualify for financing, no matter how solid the buyer is. The number of owners vs. investors in the complex, if there is an on site rental company, if there is a time share in the complex, if insurance is NOT included in the monthly regime, or if the complex does not have sufficient coverage and even if there are a percentage of owners that are delinquent on dues...these all will effect whether the lender can complete a loan on this property.
Essentially, he told us he is "jumping through hoops" on every single condo/villa deal and he thinks it's going to get worse! It's a tough market for sellers as it is...we don't need any more hurdles!
