Angry weekend update

I really am just a bundle of good news, aren't I??

Friday night on our way out to dinner with some friends, Margot the Agent called. Very briefly, she told us we might need to dig deeper into the whole Board/FHA thing because she was hearing 'things'. She was able to get in touch with Tracey the Rep at Sterling Services who did give her the rest of the forms she needed for FHA. All but one. This one form needs to be submitted by the condo board.

Rumor has it, the condo board has decided they DON'T want to be FHA approved...

Huh?

Needless to say, dinner was far less fun for us than it could have been. I did feel a bit better after my chocolate cake martini, but still.

Saturday morning, we piled in the car and headed to Webster to swim our troubles away. On the way there, Margot the Agent called to give us more details. We had to stop since we drive a lot of backroads to get there and John kept losing reception (Verizon!! Can't SOMEONE be on our side?? ha!)

Margot told us what she heard from the board. There is some 'discussion' going on that the board doesn't want to be FHA approved because they only want 'well-qualified' people. They don't want the "type of people that can't afford to live here".  Are you screaming "discrimination" yet? Because we are.

First (and we are pretty angry about this, so sorry if it's a rant), what do you mean "that type of people"??? WE are "that type of people". We have college degrees (2 of them!) jobs (3 of them!) savings (a decent amount!) and high credit scores (both over 745!!) and we couldn't have bought this place without a program that let us put less than 20% down! Are WE the type of people you don't want in your complex? A young, responsible, working family?? REALLY!?!?!?

Second, who in their right mind would save up $60K and then buy a TINY 1100 sq ft CONDO with only 2 BEDROOMS? NO ONE. We know because we've had at least 4 people try to make offers with different bank programs because they don't have 20% to put down. What first time buyer has that to put down?? And if you do, wouldn't you buy a nice little house instead of a tiny condo with a leaky roof??

Third, we already have affordable housing units in the condo. I don't know how many, or who they are, but we already have people in the place that would never have afforded their home if they didn't get some assistance. Are they bad people? No. You can't even tell who they are. They are friendly neighbors who don't cause trouble, just like the rest of us. Maybe those are the 'types of people' our board is discriminating against? They're probably thinking..."Get those filthy 'low-incomers' out. And block anyone who isn't independently wealthy from moving in! They really bring the value of this place down." Riiiiiight. That's a great way to think.

Fourth, FHA is a fully supported program that has low credit score minimums, low salary minimums and low debt to income ratio numbers so the buyers that go through FHA are fully qualified to buy according to the bank. You know, the bank...the institution that has the most to lose if someone defaults. Who cares, says the condo board! Just because a silly old bank says they can afford it doesn't mean WE want such riff-raff in our complex!!  Our condo board has a bit of a God complex if you ask me.

Fifth, by not going through with this application, they are essentially TRAPPING us in our condo. We can't sell (we have had 4 buyers try, so it's clearly not the unit) so we can't leave. We have no choice but to just sit around and hope and pray that the perfect buyer comes along. We want to try and rent it out, but only 30% of the complex can be rentals and we don't know how many there are now. Plus, the board would have to approve it and if they are 'above' FHA standards, there's no way they are going to let us rent to someone that can only afford to rent and not buy. Those people must be the dregs of society!

We are beyond frustrated. This is like a bad movie that should have ended a month ago. John is going to call a lawyer friend and see if we have any legal ground to stand on. The board can't pick and chose who moves in and who doesn't, but we don't know how strong that claim is. We are also going to try and find board members and talk to them about this and see if we can make them see how unreasonable they are being.

Do they know that NO one will be able to move if they don't apply for FHA status?

FHA doesn't mean poor people. It just means people that are trying really hard but need a little boost. Pretty much everyone in this economy.

We'll see. Nothing else has gone our way so this probably won't either.