VA Condo Approvals – When an “Approval” May Not Mean What it Says

VA Condo Approvals – When an “Approval” May Not Mean What it Says

Last week, I was on the phone with one of the VA Staff Appraisers regarding a condominium project that appears to be approved by the VA.  On the VA’s site, there are roughly 600 condominiums in Connecticut that are approved.  Once on the approved list, the condominium approval never expires.

A typical VA project approval looks like the one just below.  It has the Condo Name and ID (000292), Address, Status, Request Received Date and Review Completion Date.  VA loans are available within this condominium project.

The condo about which I was inquiring, is the one in the picture below.  As you can see, it says that it is "Accepted Without Conditions" but there is no Request Received Date or Review Completion Date. The Staff Appraiser at the VA said that he would question the validity of this approval if he were reviewing a VA loan in this project.  He believes that the system should be purged of these potentially errant approvals.

Prior to 2009, condos that were on the FHA Approved Condos list would be added to the VA’s approved condos list by simply requesting it and providing a copy of the FHA approval.  This is no longer the case and all condominiums not already on this list must be approved by the VA.  However, you can see which condos were added by this method when it looks like the one below.

However, this one is also suspect because there is no Received Date or Completion Date.

I wanted to bring this to the attention of real estate agents and loan officers who have VA borrowers that are looking to purchase in VA-approved condo projects.  Just because the system may say “Accepted”, it may not necessarily be viewed as approved with the VA.

If you have a question, please call the jurisdictional Regional Loan Center and speak to a Staff Appraiser (option #2 in the phone menu).  We all know that the biggest enemy of a real estate or mortgage transaction is surprises. 

For the remainder of the year, ReadySetLoan Condo Team LLC is offering free processing for VA condo approvals for all condominium clients who retain us for an FHA condo approval.  If you have questions about VA or FHA condo approvals, please contact us for a free consultation.