Broker’s extra effort enables purchase of new condo conversion

Loan officer: John Holmgren. Property type: Condo in Oakland. Purchase price: $379,000. Loan amount: $279,000. Loan terms: 30-year fixed at 4.25 percent with no points Backstory: A woman needed to secure preapproval for the purchase of her first home. She wanted to buy a moderately priced property so that her payments would be affordable. The buyer’s agent, Valerie Ruma of McGuire Real Estate, knew that the property would have to be a condo since condos are generally priced lower than single-family homes.

Condos may also be more affordable as long as the monthly HOA fee is not too high.

After months of looking, Ruma located an ideal condo unit for the buyer in a new condo conversion.

The challenge was the project had not been formally approved by any of the mortgage agencies. Thus, all of the units had to close at the same time in order for the buyers’ loans to be sellable to these agencies.

Two of the six buyers were working with John Holmgren’s company, one was paying cash and the other three had arranged financing from other lenders.

In working with his condo project approval department, Holmgren determined that the project would have to have an engineer report to certify that the building had met mortgage agency condo conversion requirements. He worked with the project developer to secure this report expeditiously. This report ended up being used by all of the buyers to solidify their loan approvals and complete the closing process. The condo purchase closed in a little over 30 days. The buyer achieved her dream of affordable home ownership. John Holmgren, Holmgren & Associates, (510) 339-2121, john@mortgageholmgren.com.