What's the fastest way to confirm the project status?
Call the property manager directly on day 1 and ask: "When was this project officially established as a condominium?" or "When was this project converted from apartments to condos?" Get a specific date. If the property manager is uncertain, ask them to check official HOA records or provide the HOA attorney's contact for verification. Follow up with written confirmation once you have the date. Project status is a gate question — confirm it early.
Why it's not always simple
Some HOAs have clear conversion dates. Some have dates buried in legal documents. Some had phased conversions or unclear timelines. Getting a definitive answer sometimes requires reviewing legal documents or HOA formation records, not just asking the property manager.
The bigger issue: project status is often the most critical gate factor, and waiting for the questionnaire to clarify it wastes time.
What people usually miss
People often hope the questionnaire will clarify project status. What usually gets missed:
- Asking the property manager directly gets an answer faster than waiting for questionnaire completion
- "Newly converted" usually means within the last 3–7 years (exact timeline varies by lender), so the question is about specific dates
- Phased conversions and ongoing projects create ambiguity that a phone call can clarify faster than documents
- Getting written confirmation via email after the phone call prevents later disputes about what was said
- Not asking this as a first question — making it the very first diagnostic question
- Assuming the questionnaire will have this answer — sometimes it doesn't
The real problem: project status is a gate question, but it's often discovered late.
Example
A loan officer waits for the HOA questionnaire to clarify project status. When it arrives on day 10, the status field is vague: "established condo community, original conversion date unknown, renovation completed 2020." The loan officer has to call and ask for clarification. The property manager says "we think it was converted around 2012 or 2013 but we're not certain." Now there's ambiguity that requires legal document review. If the loan officer had called on day 1 and asked directly, she would have either gotten a clear date or known immediately that clarification required documentation review.
If this is a real file
Call the property manager on day 1 and ask directly: "When was this project established/converted as a condo?" Get a specific year or date. If they're uncertain, ask them to check records. Get written confirmation via email. Don't wait for the questionnaire — this is day-1 information.
If you want to quickly understand the project status and confirm it's accurate for your file, you can run a 60-second pre-screen.