Two buyers can make offers on the same condo near Las Olas Boulevard at the same price on the same afternoon. If one pays cash and the other uses a conventional mortgage, they are now buying different things. The cash buyer is buying a unit. In most buildings with more than 10 units, the mortgage buyer has been buying something more since Aug. 3, 2026. Along with the unit comes a full review of the condo association: its budget, its reserves, its insurance, any lawsuits it is in, and whether it has the money for repairs it has not finished.
The cause is a federal mortgage rule change, and most buyers learn about it only when a lender sends the association a questionnaire.
The shortcut that closed on Aug. 3
For years, a buyer putting down a large down payment could often get a lighter check of the building. Fannie Mae called this "Limited Review," and Freddie Mac called its version "Streamlined Review." In a lender letter dated March 18, 2026, Fannie Mae said it was retiring Limited Review. Established projects that used to qualify must now go through a Full Review, or a waiver where one applies. Lenders had to make the change for every loan application dated on or after Aug. 3, 2026. National Mortgage Professional reported that Freddie Mac retired Streamlined Review on the same date, and that "a larger down payment will no longer provide that abbreviated route."
Before, the review leaned on the borrower's strength. Now it leans on the building's. The same outlet said the immediate risk for lenders "is not necessarily that a borrower will fail to qualify. It is that the condominium association will not be able or willing to supply the documents necessary to determine whether the project does."
The reviewers now look at a longer list:
- Budgets and reserve funding
- Insurance policies
- Inspection reports
- Litigation
- Special assessments
- Owner delinquencies
- Critical repairs
Writing in a Miami Herald column, South Florida attorney Michael L. Hyman said Limited Review had made up roughly 40% of past project reviews. He added that the move to Full Review will require formal lender questionnaires "for nearly all condominium sales" and "could slow transactions." Getting those documents also costs money. Taylor Stork of the Community Home Lenders of America told National Mortgage Professional that the paperwork for a Full Review could cost between $100 and $1,000 per project, depending on the association and its management company.
Half the market never sees the questionnaire
The rule matters more because so many Broward condo buyers skip it. MIAMI REALTORS reported that cash made up 52.2% of Broward existing-condo sales in August 2026. Hyman noted in the Miami Herald that agency standards "have no impact on cash deals that do not require financing."
So a seller near Las Olas is really dealing with two groups of buyers. One group can close no matter what the association's paperwork shows. The other group's offer depends on what the association's managers send back, and on how fast. Mortgage rates widen that gap. Citing Freddie Mac, MIAMI REALTORS reported a 30-year fixed rate of 7.17% as of Sept. 15, 2026, and its chief economist, Gay Cororaton, said to "expect more cash and high-end buyers to drive the South Florida real estate market."
Here is the rest of the most recent Broward condo report. These are county-wide August 2026 figures, not Las Olas-only figures. September numbers had not been released as of mid-October.
| Broward existing condos, August 2026 | Figure |
|---|---|
| Median sale price | $257,500, up 3.96% year over year |
| Closed sales | 883, down 9.3% year over year |
| Active listings | 9,427, down 14.84% year over year |
| Months of supply | 9.9, which the report classifies as a buyer's market |
| Median days from listing to contract | 73 |
| Cash share of sales | 52.2% |
Almost ten months of supply gives a financed buyer room to negotiate, and a 73-day median to contract gives them time to read documents. But that leverage only works in buildings where a loan can close. In a building with weak paperwork, the realistic buyers are the cash buyers, and they know it.
A second deadline on Jan. 4, 2027
August was the first date. The second one comes in January. In the same March letter, Fannie Mae raised its minimum reserve allocation for capital expenditures and deferred maintenance from 10% to 15% of the association's annual budgeted assessment income. Lenders must apply the new minimum on Full Reviews for loan applications dated on or after Jan. 4, 2027. The letter also stops lenders from accepting the "baseline funding" method, which lets a reserve balance approach zero without going below it. When a lender relies on a reserve study instead, the association's budget must include the study's highest recommended reserve amount.
There is a way around the 15% figure. Hyman explained in the Miami Herald that the 15% allocation is not required for associations that completed a reserve study within the last three years and fund at its highest recommended level. That means two buildings on the same street with similar monthly fees could get different results from a lender. The difference would come from the date of each building's reserve study and the funding level its board chose.
Florida's own post-Surfside rules run on a separate track, and the deadlines overlap:
- Milestone inspections. Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation says covered condo buildings of three or more habitable stories generally need a milestone inspection at 30 years and every 10 years after that. The first one comes at 25 years if local officials decide local conditions call for it.
- Structural Integrity Reserve Studies. Under HB 913, the general deadline for an association's first study was Dec. 31, 2025. Associations could instead complete it alongside a milestone inspection due by Dec. 31, 2026.
- Reserve funding. DBPR says required reserves must be funded starting Jan. 1, 2026, for budgets adopted by Dec. 31, 2024, and that budgets adopted on or after Jan. 1, 2025 cannot waive those reserves.
- A temporary pause. For budgets adopted on or before Dec. 31, 2028, HB 913 allows an association that completed a milestone inspection within the previous two calendar years to pause or reduce reserve contributions for up to two consecutive annual budgets, if a majority of the total voting interests approves. The money must go toward repairs the milestone inspection recommended, and the association needs a new structural integrity reserve study before contributions resume. The option is not available to developer-controlled associations, associations where nondeveloper owners have been in control for less than a year, or associations controlled by bulk assignees or bulk buyers.
A building can be fully compliant with state law and still fall short of a lender's standard. Becker & Poliakoff describes the Fannie and Freddie standards as financing rules rather than laws. Failing to meet them does not break any statute, but it can limit access to conventional mortgages and affect market value. A qualifying association that votes for the HB 913 pause is using a legal option, and a buyer's lender will still review that budget against its own standard.
Where the new rules make financing easier
The March letter also loosened several rules, and some of those changes help specific kinds of buildings near Las Olas.
Small buildings. Fannie Mae expanded its Waiver of Project Review to cover new and established projects with 10 or fewer units. Projects with five to 10 units qualify only if they are not part of a master association or larger development. The project also must not be marked "Unavailable" in Fannie's system and must meet insurance requirements. Florida Realtors reported the same expanded waiver when it covered the change in May. As a result, a small low-rise building may now get a lighter lender check than a large tower a few blocks away.
Buildings with many investor owners. Fannie retired its 50% investment-property concentration limit for established projects under Full Review on investor loans. Hyman wrote that this change, together with the removal of Florida-specific requirements for new projects, "will help to facilitate compliance for many communities in the state." The letter also says retiring Limited Review removes the remaining geographic restrictions that applied to Florida.
Insurance. Individual policies no longer need replacement-cost documentation, and roofs no longer have to be insured at full replacement cost. Hyman wrote that this "will offer relief for many communities that had difficulties meeting the prior requirements."
Overall, the rules make a building's finances matter more than its location, size or share of investor owners. A well-funded older building might find financing easier now than it did a year ago. An underfunded newer one might find it harder.
What a building's paperwork can show
Fannie Mae's letter says it added critical-repair and unsafe-condition requirements to its guide in 2023. Since then, it has seen a link between underfunded reserves and buildings that need critical repairs, and it warns that unit owners in those buildings can face "unexpected special assessments or higher regular assessments." Buyers cannot check a building's standing themselves. Fannie's Status Finder is available only to HOAs, management companies and authorized advisers, and the agency says it does not share eligibility decisions with other parties. For a buyer, that means the association's answers to the lender questionnaire are the main way to learn where a building stands.
Siegfried Rivera attorney Laura Manning-Hudson writes that a Full Review can cover budgets, reserves, insurance, delinquencies, litigation and building condition. She recommends asking about project eligibility before signing a contract.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a bigger down payment still reduce the building review? No. For applications dated on or after Aug. 3, 2026, a larger down payment no longer gets a shorter review from either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Do these rules apply to cash purchases? They apply to loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. As Hyman noted in the Miami Herald, they have no effect on deals that do not involve financing.
Why does Jan. 4, 2027 matter if a building already passed a review this fall? Each loan is reviewed under the rules in effect on its application date. On Full Reviews for applications dated on or after Jan. 4, 2027, the minimum reserve allocation goes up to 15%, unless the association qualifies through a recent reserve study funded at its highest recommended level.
If a mortgage is part of your plan for a condo near Las Olas, it helps to know early how a building's reserves, insurance and questionnaire answers are likely to hold up under review. The Dinh Group can walk you through what to request from an association, and when, before the January reserve deadline. Schedule your personalized consultation with Hanh.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
