Wells Fargo Shuns Condo Loans

From a Candy Evans article at House Watch:

Wells Fargo, once the Hercules of condominium mortgage lending, is now apparently running from that faster than a runaway stagecoach. This is not good news for buyers who already find it tough, if not impossible, to obtain financing for condominiums. And not only condos are in trouble: Wells-Fargo apparently adopted a "just say no" policy in late February for any residential subdivisions, including homes, that share property insurance companies, as they commonly do.

While this particular article focuses on the lending institution's unwillingness to lend, based on their interpretation of 2008 Fannie Mae guidelines that prohibit lenders from selling loans to Fannie should the property association insurance is issued by a carrier that covers multiple other properties, the bigger picture, in my opinion, is that banks are finding association living to be an increased liability on properties, but with the increased prevalence of associations, coupled with the lack of regulation or government oversight, one's property within an association is a riskier investment then one that is on its own. While this is an overly simplified look on a complex matter, when you consider the number of parties involved in property ownership, associations just add too many variables that possess a negative monetary value on such a large investment.