Down payment, pricing and appraisal rules for a condo loan
Condo Loan or House Loan at The Royalton: What Changes for the Buyer
Updated November 2026
How is a condo loan at The Royalton different from a house loan, and is it harder to get?
In November 2026, a Royalton unit loan faces the same borrower tests as a house loan, plus Fannie Mae's attached-condo price adjustment and a lender check of the building.
Paige Martin, Houston Properties Team, The Royalton
Source: Fannie Mae Selling Guide, General Property Eligibility, September 2025.
What changes when the home is a Royalton unit instead of a house?
Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, in its General Property Eligibility topic dated September 2025, prices some property types differently. Units in an attached condo project are one of them.
Every home at The Royalton sits inside one 33-story tower of 253 condominium units at 3333 Allen Parkway. A loan on any of them is a loan on a unit in an attached condo project.
That adjustment does not replace the others. The guide adds it to any other price adjustments that already apply to the particular transaction.
A detached house is not a unit in an attached condo project, so that particular adjustment does not reach it. Ask your loan officer to show the attached-condo line separately, so you can see what it adds.
A Loan-Level Price Adjustment (LLPA) applies to certain property types, including multiple-unit properties and units in an attached condo project.
Which borrower factors set the rate on a Royalton unit loan?
Fannie Mae's credit score topic, dated November 2026, requires credit scores for most loans it buys or securitizes. It also bases loan-level price adjustments on the loan's representative credit score, alongside other eligibility and loan features.
A July 2020 study by the Texas Real Estate Research Center looked at a representative Texas mortgage rate. The Texas Real Estate Research Center names credit score, loan-to-value and debt-to-income as the main factors behind the rate an applicant is offered.
Those three describe the borrower, so they follow you from a house search to a tower search. Loan-to-value is the one the purchase itself shapes, because a larger down payment on the same unit lowers it.
Does the lender check The Royalton itself?
Fannie Mae's project standards, dated August 2026, have the lender confirm that a project meets Fannie Mae's eligibility requirements before it delivers a loan on a unit. A house loan has no 253-home building behind it to review.
The tests reach other owners and the association. A Full Review allows no more than 15 percent of units to be 60 days or more past due on HOA fees.
A project with more than 35 percent commercial or mixed-use space is ineligible. Pending litigation can also make a project ineligible.
The resale certificate a seller must furnish states unsatisfied judgments and the nature of pending suits. The association has ten days from a written request to produce it, so send the lender's project questions at the same time.
The full set of project tests is in How a Lender Reviews the Condo Project Before Financing a Unit at The Royalton.
Will a Royalton purchase need a full appraisal?
Not always. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, in its June 2026 topic on value acceptance, says DU offers value acceptance for certain loan casefiles, and on those an appraisal is not required.
The guide lists the transactions it will consider for an offer. Among them are one-unit properties including condos, principal residence and second home transactions, certain purchase transactions, and DU casefiles with an Approve/Eligible recommendation.
A unit at The Royalton is a one-unit condo, so it falls inside that list. Whether a given file receives the offer is decided in DU for that casefile.
Value acceptance and your offer price answer different questions. Price a unit here against sold homes of the same floor plan, on a similar floor and exposure.
For certain loan casefiles, DU offers value acceptance, in which case an appraisal is not required.
How much of the cash has to be your own?
Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, in its November 2025 topic on purchase transactions, says the minimum borrower contribution requirements for the selected mortgage loan type must be met.
Seller money cannot fill that gap. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide covers it in a May 2025 topic on interested party contributions. It bars those contributions from the down payment, from financial reserve requirements and from the minimum borrower contribution.
So the down payment on a Royalton unit comes from your side of the table. Seller credits have narrower uses, and your lender can check them against the offer you plan to write.
Is a Royalton loan harder to get than a house loan?
It has more parts. The borrower review uses the same measures, and the building adds its own review and its own price line.
A house loan turns on the borrower and the house. A Royalton unit loan can also be held up by the association's records, such as owners behind on fees or pending suits.
Paige Martin specializes in condo purchases and purchases in an association-governed building, with 43 closings at The Royalton since 2004, most recently July 2026.
Send the unit number and your lender's project questions. You will hear which document answers each one and when it should arrive.
Questions & answers
The Royalton questions, answered
Why do Texas mortgage rates run higher than the national benchmark?
The Texas Real Estate Research Center reports that since 2011, the rate for both GSE and non-GSE borrowers in Texas has stayed consistently above the national benchmark. In a July 2020 study, the Texas Real Estate Research Center ties that gap to the typical Texas loan profile, which includes loans that would not qualify for Freddie Mac's survey rate. A national headline rate may therefore sit below what a Texas file is offered.
That finding describes Texas loans in general rather than any one borrower. For a Royalton unit, the quote that counts is the one built from your own file and from the building. Ask two lenders for a written estimate on the same day, for the same unit and the same down payment. Then compare the rate and the itemized price adjustments line by line, including any attached-condo line.
Does the monthly assessment on a Royalton unit change how much I can borrow?
Debt-to-income is one of three factors the Texas Real Estate Research Center ties to the rate a Texas applicant is offered. A Royalton unit carries a sizable monthly assessment: the median fee on homes sold here in 2026 was $1,377, on a series computed 31 August 2026. Ask your loan officer how it counts the assessment on your specific unit when it works out that ratio.
The figure that binds one unit is on its resale certificate rather than in a building average. Fees here follow each home's allocated interest in the recorded declaration rather than its square footage, so two units of the same size can owe different amounts. The association has ten days from a written request to produce the certificate. Give your lender that figure early, together with the property tax on the unit's own account and the quote for your unit policy.
Can the seller pay my association assessments at The Royalton after closing?
Yes, within a limit. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide covers this in a May 2025 topic on interested party contributions. It accepts financing concessions toward HOA assessments covering any period after the settlement date, limited to no more than 12 months. The same topic accepts them toward your closing costs, prepaids included. Paying HOA fees for 12 months or less is considered an interested party contribution.
Write the credit as a dollar figure tied to the unit's own assessment. At The Royalton that number comes from the resale certificate, because fees follow each home's allocated interest in the recorded declaration. The median fee on homes sold here has risen in most years of the last decade, so check the assessment in force at closing rather than an older listing figure. Show the wording to your lender before the offer goes out, so the credit fits the loan's rules.
What changes if I borrow more than 95 percent of a Royalton unit's price?
Fannie Mae's Selling Guide covers this in a November 2025 topic on purchase transactions. It says added requirements apply to a purchase where the LTV, CLTV or HCLTV ratio exceeds 95 percent. Those requirements are set out in that same topic. Ask your lender to list each one in writing for your Royalton file before you settle on a down payment.
For a HomeReady loan on a one-unit principal residence, Fannie Mae's Selling Guide caps loan-to-value at 97 percent in DU and 95 percent when manually underwritten. A loan above 95 percent therefore depends on how the file is underwritten. Loan-to-value also feeds the rate a Texas applicant is offered, which is one reason to see the figures at two or three down payment levels side by side.
What should I give a loan officer at the first call about a Royalton unit?
Give the street address, 3333 Allen Parkway, and the unit number, plus the plan and floor if you know them. Ask whether the loan will be delivered to Fannie Mae, how it handles the attached-condo price adjustment, and who will send its project questions to the association. Those answers shape the calendar you write into the contract.
Mention the building's history too. The Royalton was completed in December 2002 as a rental tower and became a condominium after a December 2004 sale, and the lender decides how that history fits its project categories. Then line up the dates. The association has ten days from a written request to produce a resale certificate, and the option period counts from the Effective Date. Ask the lender how long its project review usually takes, and put all three on one calendar.
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