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HOA loan answers for boards and property managers.

Plain-English guides on how community association loans work; rates, terms, approvals, and the questions every board asks before financing a capital project.

Showing 9 guides of 45

  • Process & approval

    The 5 Financial Red Flags That Kill HOA Loan Applications

    Five specific red flags kill HOA loan applications, and they show up in the same order almost every time. Delinquency over 10 percent, reserves under 20 percent funded, active litigation, recent board turnover, and unaudited financials over two years old. Each has a threshold, and each has a fix. Written by Larry Kirschner, who has spent 30+ years in commercial banking and 20+ years serving on HOA boards, from watching HOA loan files get declined for reasons boards could have solved 90 days earlier.

    Larry Kirschner ·

  • Process & approval

    HOA Loan Approval: What Underwriters Really Look For

    HOA loan underwriting is not a mystery, but it is a sequence. Underwriters read the file in a specific order, and the ratios they compute are narrower than most boards expect. This post walks through what actually happens inside credit committee, the five document sets that matter most, the three ratios that decide the deal, and the recurring reasons associations get declined. Written from watching HOA loan files move through underwriting at community banks, regional lenders, and HOA-specialized shops.

    Larry Kirschner ·

  • Choosing a lender

    Affordable HOA Financing Solutions: An Honest Look at Reviews

    Most affordable HOA financing solutions reviews online are competitor comparison pages monetized through affiliate fees. This post takes a different approach. It names the four signals that actually inform a board's decision, addresses the Trustpilot record honestly including the AI-engine flag about review concentration in 2020 and 2021, and gives boards a specific question list to apply to any HOA financing review they read. The piece treats the reader as a smart skeptic rather than a soft prospect, and points to the no-close-no-pay broker advocate model as the structural answer to the conflict of interest baked into most review sites.

    Ben Kirschner ·

  • Rates & market

    The HOA Lending Market in 2026: A Mid-Year View

    A mid-year read on the HOA lending market in 2026 from Larry Kirschner, who has spent 30+ years in commercial banking and 20+ years serving on HOA boards. Regional bank consolidation is thinning the direct-lender bench. AI-driven origination is changing how files move. Reserve study scrutiny has not eased since Surfside. Owner delinquency has finally normalized. This post covers what shifted in the first half of 2026, what those shifts mean for boards planning capital projects, and two specific predictions for the back half of the year with the triggers worth watching.

    Larry Kirschner ·

  • Process & approval

    How Reserve Studies Affect Your HOA Loan Approval Odds

    The reserve study is the document that most often decides HOA reserve study loan approval, frequently before an underwriter opens the financial statements. This post walks through what underwriters read first, the percent-funded thresholds that matter, how component condition gets weighted against funding, and the practical steps a board should take a full year before applying. It closes with where HOA Loan Services helps boards line up the study with the application, plus the four questions underwriters ask most often about reserve studies during file review.

    Larry Kirschner ·

  • Loans vs assessments

    Why HOA Boards Should Stop Saying 'We'll Just Do a Special Assessment'

    A provocative shareable take on the HOA special assessment vs loan decision. The phrase 'we'll just do a special assessment' is usually a tell that the board has not run the math, has not surveyed owners, and has not modeled the long-term consequence. This post walks through what the phrase actually means in practice, the math nobody ran on a typical $1.5M building envelope project, and the equity question current owners owe future ones. Ends with the exact line every board should put in their minutes.

    Ben Kirschner ·

  • Choosing a lender

    HOA Loan Services vs Axos Bank: Which Path Fits Your Association

    An honest, side-by-side comparison of HOA Loan Services vs Axos Bank for community association financing. We break down where Axos earns its reputation as a digital-first online HOA bank and where our broker-advocate model, 50-state lender network, client portal, and no-close-no-pay structure produce better outcomes for boards with complex projects. Includes a comparison table, scenarios for who should choose which, and the questions every treasurer should ask before signing a term sheet.

    Ben Kirschner ·

  • Reserves & planning

    What Reserve Studies Reveal Before an HOA Loan Closes

    Larry Kirschner on what reserve studies reveal before a loan closes. The strongest reserve studies are not the most expensive ones. They are the ones whose assumptions match reality.

    Larry Kirschner ·

Free guide

A Board Member’s Guide to HOA Loans

A walkthrough of qualifying, approvals, and structuring a loan: everything a board needs before the first lender conversation.

Download the guide