Some buildings do not meet conventional project guidelines. I check the association and the project up front, and I have non-warrantable options when a building does not qualify conventionally.
With a condo, the lender underwrites the building as well as the borrower. A project that does not meet guidelines can stop a file that is otherwise perfectly strong, and it usually surfaces late, after the inspection period, when the appraisal and the questionnaire come back. That is the wrong week to find out.
Thresholds and how each item is weighed differ by lender and by program. None of these are automatic disqualifiers on the non-warrantable side. If the building does meet guidelines, this is simply one of the conventional Florida home loans.
Florida now requires milestone structural inspections and structural integrity reserve studies for many condominium buildings, and the funding requirements that follow have moved a number of associations into special assessments or reserve shortfalls. Some buildings that financed conventionally a few years ago no longer do. This is worth checking before you fall for a unit, not after.
I pull the association documents and the questionnaire early, so we know which lane the building is in while you still have room to decide.
Buying the unit to rent out rather than to live in changes the path entirely. See DSCR loans.
Association dues belong in your monthly number from the start, and so does any assessment the association has already voted in. A building with a low price and a high assessment is not the bargain it looks like. The calculator has a field for dues so you can see the honest figure.