Answers for the next board meeting.

Yes, a lender may use an acceptable reserve study instead of calculating Fannie Mae's Full Review reserve-allocation percentage, but only when every substitution condition is met. Having a reserve study does not by itself waive the budget test or guarantee project eligibility.

No current Fannie Mae Full Review rule requires a condo association to be 100% funded or assigns a passing percent-funded score. The Guide tests the budget's reserve allocation or, when used, the specific conditions for a reserve-study substitution.

Not every lawsuit makes a project ineligible under Fannie Mae's current Guide. Litigation involving the HOA, or specified sponsor or developer litigation, can be ineligible, while documented minor matters may fit listed exceptions that the lender must evaluate.

For Fannie Mae Full Review, no more than 15% of total project units may be 60 days or more past due on common expense assessments. The same 15% limit is applied separately to units 60 days or more past due on each special assessment.

Under Fannie Mae Selling Guide B4-2.1-03, commercial or mixed-use space may not exceed 35% of the condo or co-op project, or 35% of the building in which the project is located. The lender determines the applicable square footage and calculation.

Fannie Mae's current single-entity ownership rule has three distinct conditions: two units for a 5-to-10-unit project that is part of a master association, two units for an 11-to-20-unit project, and 20% for a project with 21 or more units.

Fannie Mae defines critical repairs by their effect on safety, soundness, structural integrity, habitability, financial viability, or marketability, and lists specific conditions including certain unfunded repairs over $10,000 per unit that should be undertaken within 12 months.

Fannie Mae's Guide does not state a dollar cost, sale-price discount, rate premium, or guaranteed transaction outcome for an owner in an ineligible project. It states that Fannie Mae will not purchase or securitize loans secured by units in projects with listed ineligible characteristics.

If a project has a listed ineligible characteristic, Fannie Mae says it will not purchase or securitize a mortgage loan secured by a unit in that project. The source does not prove that every lender will reject the loan or that the sale must fail.

When a lender uses a reserve study instead of Fannie Mae's Full Review reserve-allocation calculation, the budget must include the study's highest recommended reserve allocation. This requirement applies to loan applications dated on or after August 3, 2026.

Fannie Mae's Full Review minimum remains 10% for loan applications dated before January 4, 2027. For Full Review applications dated on or after January 4, 2027, LL-2026-03 raises the minimum reserve allocation to 15% of annual budgeted assessment income.

Fannie Mae's current project-review sources do not publish a universal list of approved reserve-study funding methods. They expressly bar baseline funding from replacing the Full Review reserve-allocation test and require the budget to fund the study's highest recommended allocation when the substitution is used.

For loan applications dated on or after August 3, 2026, Fannie Mae does not allow a baseline-funding reserve study to replace the Full Review reserve-allocation budget test. Baseline funding does not independently fail a project whose budget satisfies the applicable allocation test.

For Fannie Mae Full Review, a lender may review the most current reserve study or Reserve Study Update if it was completed within three years of project approval and meets the applicable requirements. The source does not say that every older or incomplete study can support an Update.

For Fannie Mae Full Review, the lender may review the most current reserve study or Reserve Study Update only if it was completed within three years of the date the lender approves the project. A baseline-funded study cannot carry the reserve-study substitution for applications dated on or after August 3, 2026.

Before budget adoption, reflect completed reserve projects that changed the component inventory, current condition, remaining useful life, actual cost, reserve balance, or future project timing. Keep the evidence with the record instead of deleting the old line without explanation.

Ballast does not publish an unsupported reserve-study price range. The cost is quoted after the property, existing record, requested work, and applicable requirements are scoped, because those facts determine whether the supported engagement is a Full New Reserve Study or a Reserve Study Update.

Percent funded compares reserve cash with a calculated reserve need at a point in time. It is a ratio, not a universal grade, and Fannie Mae's current Full Review rules do not publish weak, fair, strong, or passing percent-funded bands.

In Fannie Mae's Full Review framework, a reserve study is an independent third-party analysis covering major common-area components, their condition and remaining useful life, repair or replacement costs, annual contributions including inflation, existing funded reserves, and a suggested funding plan.

There is no universal source-backed birthday that makes every reserve study unusable for budgeting. A study needs review when material property, project, cost, reserve-balance, or funding facts no longer match current conditions; Fannie Mae's separate lender-review rule uses a three-year window.

Missing or stale component, condition, useful-life, cost, reserve-balance, inflation, or funding-plan information can change a reserve study's annual contribution estimate. A precise total is not reliable merely because it is precise.

Before adopting a budget, compare the reserve study with current property and financial records: major components, condition, remaining life, costs, completed work, reserve balance, annual contribution, and the projects expected next.

Fannie Mae requires a reserve study to address specific subjects but does not require a standard format or prescribe every component life, cost input, or assumption. Two studies can therefore differ because their inventories, condition findings, timing, costs, balances, or funding assumptions differ.