HOA loan answers for boards and property managers.

Showing 9 guides of 46

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  What 2026 Taught Us About HOA Lending

  Five lessons from HOA lending in 2026. The 10-Year Treasury moved 132 basis points by September, and a board's own timeline is the part it controls. Reserve scrutiny kept rising after Surfside, and the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reserve rules tightened on two dates. Small, complex deals were the hardest to place. A complete, professionally packaged file is what lets lenders compete. And the Treasury is the same for every lender, so the spread is where a competitive process earns its keep.

  Ben Kirschner · October 1, 2026

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  What 'Unbiased Advice' Actually Means in HOA Lending

  Unbiased HOA loan advice is a phrase used constantly and almost never defined. The test that holds up is not a claim about character: it is who pays the advisor, and whether their pay depends on which lender wins. We work for the association. The association pays our fee at closing, no lender pays us, our fee is the same whichever lender wins, and if the loan does not close there is no fee.

  Ben Kirschner · October 1, 2026

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  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. Elevated delinquency, reserves that look thin against the study, active litigation, recent board turnover, and unaudited financials over two years old. Each one 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 · September 25, 2026

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  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 · September 24, 2026

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  Loan basics

  Can an HOA Get a Line of Credit? How Draw-to-Term Financing Actually Works

  Most associations asking for a line of credit need something else: a draw period sized to the construction schedule that converts into a term loan. Here is how that structure works.

  Ben Kirschner · September 20, 2026

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  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 · September 11, 2026

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  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, what lenders read instead of a single percentage, 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 · September 10, 2026

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  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 · August 29, 2026

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  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 how Axos works as a digital-first online HOA bank and where our strategist model, 50-state lender network, client portal, and no upfront cost with payment at closing produce better outcomes for boards with complex projects. Includes a comparison table and the questions every treasurer should ask before signing a term sheet.

  Ben Kirschner · August 25, 2026