I have a condo in a lower income community that I've owned for about 20 years. I'd like to sell it now but the condo is not approved for FHA lending. There is a comparable condo in the current community that's on the market, has been for a little less 90 days and has had 4 contracts which all fell through due to not being approved for FHA financing. I confirmed this with the listing agent. Does anyone have any creative ideas on how to get it sold or ever have this issue? I don't forsee the HOA or condo being FHA approved for quite some time even with the new less strict FHA guidelines.

Sabrina, I am a realtor in St. Louis and have dealt with this a few times.  I usually had to find a cash buyer or someone with conventional financing.  If its in a lower income area, that might be hard.  Where is it located?  I can reach out to my lenders to see if they have any products available.   

You might also want to reach out to some of the community banks that work in the neighborhood of the condo.  It is a long shot but they might be willing to do keep the loan on their books.

Lastly, have you tried owner financing or a lease purchase option?  I have a friend here in St. Louis that only does that and he has more buyers than properties so he might be able to help you out.  

Thanks Mark. I've never done lease purchase options but I'm open. The condo community is Kings Heights Condominium Association off North Kingshighway, 63115 zip.

@Sabrina Baldwin

Recently, legislation I thought changed where you can apply to get your one listing approved for fha instead of the of the entire association. Was this tried? I think you’ll need a mortgage broker to got this route

@ David David

although legislation has changed my condo would still not get approved based upon the new rules. I will reach out to a mortgage broker to discuss. Thanks.

Originally posted by @Sabrina Baldwin :

I have a condo in a lower income community that I've owned for about 20 years. I'd like to sell it now but the condo is not approved for FHA lending. There is a comparable condo in the current community that's on the market, has been for a little less 90 days and has had 4 contracts which all fell through due to not being approved for FHA financing. I confirmed this with the listing agent. Does anyone have any creative ideas on how to get it sold or ever have this issue? I don't forsee the HOA or condo being FHA approved for quite some time even with the new less strict FHA guidelines.

What new rules are you talking about FHA has a thing called single unit approval.

Look up FHA Pros LLC they might be able to help.

Also HUD has a condo section to look up each complex

If you can sell FHA it might help you get an owner in there and most complexes need owner occupieds to keep up the ratio.

YOu can look up if it was ever approved and why it is not approved. But the single unit approval is new as of Oct 2019, but was around awhile ago.

Look and see what kind of Down Payment Agencies exist in your area, this would help an owner occupied borrower. Just google down payment assistance in your state or city.

Also might qualify for what is called a census tract housing bond, big banks like BofA and Citibank offer this, sometimes with zero down, no MI and low interest rates.

You can do a seller carry back and do a rent to own to a new investor or owner.