The new world of mortgages

This is really un-f*ing-believable.

Last fall we finally found a buyer for our condo (it's been on the market since May). Inspections fine, contract signed, etc... I was sooooooo relieved that the financial burden would be lifted from our shoulders.

Then it all starting going to hell when Wells Fargo refused final approval on the loan because of some obscure language issue in our condo association's CC&Rs. My realtor pulled out all the stops trying to convince them to approve. She had a high-falutin' real estate attorney call the underwriter to explain that there was a state law which made the issue moot. But no luck. Wells still said no.

So, the buyers went to some other lenders, who found the same problem and another one in the CC&Rs. At which point, our buyers became discouraged and cancelled the whole deal. So the sale fell through.

Now, we're scrambling to try to fix the language in the CC&Rs, so that any condo in our HOA could ever be sold. And then we get this via email from the lender:

Don’t change them right now. We had some enlightenment happen on this issue yesterday and today.  We got some information from the D.R.E. that they are aware that they conflict with FNMA.  In actuality the verbiage is something the D.R.E. has required attorneys to put in their docs.  We brought this up to FNMA and they responded yesterday, they did not want to conflict with the state on this issue, so they are willing to accept the verbiage as is so you don’t need to have the amendment done.

Then, my realtor asked whether they could go ahead and approve the buyers' loan. And Wells wrote back (emphasis mine):

Yes - it's very interesting turn of events.It appears that your HOA has caused Wells Fargo underwriting in California to revolutionize an entire set of underwriting guidelines - looks like we made history here ;-)

 

My only concern at this point is that we have cancelled the loan at the client's request and would need to start over more or less when they get back - should the client still be interested in the property. But this guideline, which has caused us so many issues, appears to now be finally resolved...

 

I especially appreciate the happy face smiley he attached to his note. To summarize: you're still screwed, but thanks for helping us make history.