Before You List Your LA Condo: The Checklist

1. Read your building the way your buyer’s lender will

Your buyer’s lender looks at the building before it approves a loan in it.

• Count the units.2 to 10: a conventional buyer may skip project review. 11 or more: every conventional buyer’s lender runs a Full Review (since August 3, 2026).
• Find the reserve line in the budget.Budgeted reserves divided by assessment income. From January 4, 2027, a Full Review needs 15%, or a reserve study funded at its highest recommended level.
• Read the latest SB 326 balcony report.Since January 1, 2026 it goes out with the resale package, so every buyer and lender reads it.
• Check the master insurance and its deductibles.A master policy that misses Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rules stops conventional loans. A big deductible raises what buyers pay for their own HO-6.
• Ask about litigation, delinquency and assessments.Lawsuits over the structure, more than 15% of units 60+ days late, or an assessment for an unfixed critical repair can each fail a conventional review.
• Ask about retrofit status.An open City of LA concrete retrofit order, or unfunded retrofit work, can be treated as a critical repair.
• Ask the board or manager to check Fannie Mae’s Condo Status Finder.The Unavailable list isn’t public. Boards, managers and their authorized advisors can check the building’s status; buyers and agents can’t.

2. Documents to gather before you list

The HOA has 10 days to deliver after your written request, and its fees have to be based on actual cost (Civil Code 4528). Ordering early keeps escrow from waiting on paper.

• The resale package (Civil Code 4525).Governing documents, the budget, assessments, violation notices, defect disclosures, rental rules and, on request, 12 months of minutes.
• The SB 326 balcony inspection report.Part of the package you have to deliver since January 1, 2026 (SB 410).
• The 2027 budget and reserve disclosure summary, once it’s out.Calendar-year HOAs send it between October 2 and December 1, 2026. It’s the budget a buyer’s lender tests from January 4.
• The reserve study.Buyers’ lenders ask for it, and it’s the other way through the 15% line.
• The master insurance declarations.Lenders check the coverage and the deductibles. Buyers price their HO-6 from them.
• Ask the manager how long the lender questionnaire takes and what it costs.Every conventional buyer in a building over 10 units needs one now. Knowing the turnaround keeps the escrow timeline honest.
• Paperwork for anything the building fixed.Engineer sign-offs, completion certificates and board minutes showing the fix are what get a lender comfortable.

3. The 15% line and your buyer pool

Read more in the 15% reserve requirement, explained.

• Know which buyers the line touches.Conventional conforming and high-balance loans, up to $1,249,125 in LA County in 2026. With 20% down that’s buyers up to about $1.56M, the band these rules hit hardest.
• If the reserve line is under 15%, ask the board whether the 2027 budget fixes it.It’s a line item. A budget vote can move it, or the board can fund the reserve study’s highest recommendation.
• Know which line applies to your buyer.The buyer’s loan application date decides it, not the closing date: before January 4, 2027, 10%; on or after, 15%.
• Buyers above $1,249,125 are jumbo.Their lender’s own rules apply. Many follow Fannie-style standards; some accept a building with a specific issue.

4. Pricing with an assessment, a retrofit or a failed review

We don’t predict prices. These are the facts a buyer and their lender will price from.

• Get the assessment’s amount, schedule and status in writing.Buyers price in what they’ll owe. Decide with your agent whether to pay it off, credit it, or leave it on the schedule.
• Get the retrofit’s status, cost estimate and funding plan.Older concrete towers can face multi-million dollar retrofit assessments. Buyers and lenders will ask for all three.
• Find out how recent sales in your building were financed.Cash, conventional, jumbo or non-QM: the MLS records it, and it shows who’s closing in your building. Ask us and we’ll pull it.
• If the building can’t pass a conventional review right now, price against the buyers who can close.Compare against recent sales that closed with the same kinds of financing: cash, jumbo and non-QM.

5. Who can still close

• Conventional (conforming and high-balance).In a 2 to 10 unit building that qualifies for the waiver, or a larger building that passes the Full Review.
• Jumbo.The lender’s own rules. Ask the buyer’s lender early what it needs from the building.
• Non-QM and portfolio.Built for buildings outside agency rules. Typically 20% to 25% down and a rate roughly 0.5 to 2 points higher (lender reports, 2026).
• Cash.No project review, but the buyer still reads the same documents.
• Ask each buyer’s lender, before you accept, whether it has reviewed the project.A pre-approval covers the buyer, not the building.
• Leave room in the escrow timeline for a Full Review.The questionnaire, the budget and the reserve study all have to reach the lender before it can approve the project.