Thursday, March 12, 2009

Condo vs PUD: No FHA Project Approval needed on PUDs

I had a nice surprise yesterday. I wrote an offer with FHA financing on a townhouse for a young couple. I had checked the "denied" list of FHA developments in the area and had not seen it. It's a shorter list, so I usually use it before I take clients to see homes. Oops....didn't think to see if it was on the "withdrawn" list. Learned something about completeness. It was withdrawn. Panic!!! The couple's kids had already picked out their bedrooms.


But....determined to save this deal, I looked into it further. The reason the approval had been withdrawn was because it was a PUD (Planned Unit Development). Huh...I thought those were single family development, like retirement communities. So I kept researching. Turns out that townhouse developments can be incorporated as a PUD. They actual deed the land to the home buyer and then convey easement usage to the common areas. By owning the land and only having usage rights, home owners are protected from the legal liability of their neighbors. Really interesting. But the best part???? FHA doesn't have to approve the development!


Deal saved!!! Happy home buyers! And I learned something!

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