CoreLogic has announced the launch of CondoSafe, a nationwide data-enabled solution that helps lenders and investors determine whether individual condominium projects meet investor eligibility guidelines, enabling lenders to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of condominium project review.
Designed to become an industrywide utility, CondoSafe solicits and stores information from more than 140,000 condominium associations (COAs) in the U.S., to determine whether a specific condominium project appears to be eligible for GSE and investor lending. During development, CoreLogic worked closely with leading lenders, U.S. housing agencies and condominium industry groups to create the first standardized, copyrighted COA questionnaire that meets the needs of most lending institutions.
Based on the submission of a condo unit-specific address by the lender, CondoSafe will link that address to the correct COA, using sophisticated data technology and query the association on the lender’s behalf. The lender will be provided an underwriter-friendly report, as well as any requested association and insurance documents. Lenders and investors may use this information to assist in making lending decisions and to perform quality control reviews on condo transactions delivered by third party originators. The report will include “alerts” based on all applicable agency condominium guidelines that will help users to identify potential eligibility issues, such as owner occupancy, commercial/residential mix or loan performance.
The full CondoSafe review package will include: CondoSafe Report; Insurance Declarations; Budgets; and Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions.
“Today, lenders that originate conforming loans for condos must first identify and then contact and query COAs to determine eligibility,” said Arlene Hyde, senior vice president, client experience at CoreLogic. “This can be a time-consuming ‘chase and place’ process that can easily stretch-out underwriting and purchase decisions by weeks and add $500 or $600 to the cost of origination. If the information they receive back is inaccurate or misinterpreted, it can result in a loan being ineligible for GSE or investor purchase.”
Initially, CondoSafe will provide alerts based on apparent conflicts with investor guidelines. Future iterations will also compare COA-provided data to historical statements and validate the data against other CoreLogic databases, such as loan performance and MLS data, to alert clients to potential discrepancies.
