Project review, the condo questionnaire and ineligible projects
How a Lender Reviews the Condo Project Before Financing a Unit at The Royalton
Updated October 2026
What does a lender check about the condo association before it will finance a unit at The Royalton?
As of August 2026, Fannie Mae's Selling Guide requires a lender to confirm The Royalton meets its project eligibility requirements before delivering a loan secured by one of its units.
Paige Martin, Houston Properties Team, The Royalton
Source: Fannie Mae Selling Guide, General Information on Project Standards, August 2026.
What does a lender have to confirm about The Royalton before financing a unit?
Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, in its General Information on Project Standards dated August 2026, puts the project check on the lender. Before delivering a loan secured by an individual unit, the lender must determine that the project meets Fannie Mae's eligibility requirements.
At The Royalton the project is a 33-story tower of 253 homes at 3333 Allen Parkway, governed by its association. The test looks at the building and the association, and it sits beside the lender's review of the borrower.
Ask your lender whether the loan it is offering will be delivered to Fannie Mae, because these requirements attach to that delivery.
Before delivering a loan secured by an individual unit in a project, the lender must determine that the project meets Fannie Mae's eligibility requirements.
Does a loan on a Royalton unit get a full project review?
Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, in a topic dated August 2026, lists project types and transactions that do not need a thorough project review. Those types sit in a table in that topic, and your lender can say whether a given loan falls inside it.
One category is the detached condo, which the guide defines as a unit completely detached from other condo units in the project. Every home at The Royalton sits inside one 33-story tower, so none fits that definition.
The guide's topic on the Full Review process, also dated August 2026, covers attached units. It says a Full Review may be performed where the attached unit sits in an established condo project, or in a new or newly converted one.
The Royalton was completed in December 2002 as a rental tower and became a condominium after a December 2004 sale. Which of the guide's project categories that history places it in is the lender's determination.
Where a lender does run a Full Review, it must use Condo Project Manager (CPM) to assist, except for projects containing manufactured homes.
Which project traits does Fannie Mae treat as making a building ineligible?
Fannie Mae's Selling Guide, in a topic dated August 2026, says Fannie Mae will not purchase or securitize loans on units in projects with characteristics that make them ineligible.
One test is space. Under that topic, no more than 35% of a condo project, or 35% of the building it sits in, may be commercial space or allocated to mixed-use.
A second test is pending litigation. It reaches suits naming the HOA, and suits naming the sponsor or developer that relate to the project's safety, structural soundness, habitability or functional use.
At The Royalton, the resale certificate a seller must furnish states unsatisfied judgments and the nature of pending suits. Those two lines show a buyer what a lender's litigation test will ask about.
Projects in which the HOA or co-op corporation is named as a party to pending litigation, or for which the project sponsor or developer is named as a party to pending litigation that relates to the safety, structural soundness, habitability, or functional use of the project
How do unpaid HOA fees at The Royalton enter the review?
For a Full Review, Fannie Mae's Selling Guide sets a ceiling on owners behind on their fees. No more than 15% of the total units may be 60 days or more past due on common expense assessments, which the guide also calls HOA fees.
At The Royalton that ceiling runs across all 253 homes, so it turns on how other owners pay as well as on the unit you are buying.
The resale certificate shows what the seller owes the association. The count across the whole building comes from the association, so ask for it in writing before you sign a contract.
No more than 15% of the total units in a project are 60 days or more past due on common expense assessments (also known as HOA fees).
Where does a lender get its information about The Royalton?
Fannie Mae's project standards list sources for project information, and the list is open-ended. It includes appraisers, HOAs, management companies, real estate agents, insurance professionals and project developers, among others.
For a buyer here, the association, its managing agent and the agent you hire can all feed answers into the lender's file. Starting early helps, because the association has ten days from a written request to produce a resale certificate.
Paige Martin specializes in condo purchases and purchases in an association-governed building. Send the unit number and your lender's project questions, and she will name the document that answers each one.
Questions & answers
The Royalton questions, answered
Can an FHA approval of The Royalton count toward a conventional loan?
Sometimes. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide covers this in a topic dated September 2018. It accepts conventional loans in established projects on the FHA-approved list, provided the approval came through FHA's HUD Review and Approval Process (HRAP). An approval completed through an FHA Direct Endorsement Lender Review and Approval Process (DELRAP) does not qualify. FHA condo project approval is not acceptable for conventional loans on units in new or newly converted condo projects.
The lender confirms whether The Royalton is on the FHA-approved list, and which process produced the approval. The building opened as a rental tower in December 2002 and became a condominium after a December 2004 sale. How the guide classes that history is the lender's determination. Where a lender relies on an FHA approval, the guide requires it to keep copies of the approval documentation in the loan file. Ask your loan officer early which route it plans to take, so you know which path your file is on.
Will a lender order an environmental hazard assessment on The Royalton?
Only on a trigger. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide covers this in a topic dated June 2020. An assessment is required for condo and co-op projects if the lender identifies an environmental problem through its project underwriting or due diligence. The trigger is the lender's own finding during that work, so the answer depends on what the lender turns up at this address.
Buyers here often raise the 11 August 2022 break in an underground water line serving the building's fire sprinkler system. That event was a failure in a utility line rather than in the structure. Whether anything in a lender's due diligence counts as an environmental problem is the lender's determination. Ask your loan officer whether an assessment is likely on this file, and how much time one would add, before you settle on a closing date.
Would a required club or facility membership stop a loan at The Royalton?
It would for a loan sold to Fannie Mae. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide addresses mandatory outside memberships in a topic dated August 2026. Where owners must pay dues to a third-party organization, such as a golf course or other recreational facility, loans on those units are ineligible for sale to Fannie Mae. The rule turns on dues owed to an organization outside the association.
A widely cited building page lists The Royalton's pool, fitness centre, theatre, ballroom and guest rooms, and the monthly assessment pays for the building's services. That list is a listing field rather than a statement from the association. Ask the association in writing whether any owner must join, or pay dues to, an organization outside it. Keep the reply with the declaration and the resale certificate.
Does the association have to fill out the lender's condo questionnaire?
Fannie Mae's project standards, dated August 2026, describe the Condominium Project Questionnaire (Form 1076) as a form that helps lenders collect data to determine condo project eligibility. The guide calls the form optional, though it encourages lenders to use it and keep it in the loan file. Whether and when the association completes one is a matter for the association and the lender.
Because the form is optional, a lender may gather the same answers by other means. Ask your loan officer early whether it wants Form 1076 or its own version, and who will send it. At The Royalton the resale certificate must state the managing agent's details, which tells you where the request goes. Answers that arrive late can run into the option period, which keeps its own clock.
When should I ask the lender to start its review of The Royalton?
As soon as you have a unit in view. The lender's project check depends on the association's answers, while your contract runs on fixed deadlines. Under Texas law the association has ten days from an owner's written request to produce a resale certificate. Sending the lender's project questions at the same time keeps both sets of answers moving together.
Give the loan officer the street address and the unit number. Ask which project tests it will run, which documents it needs from the association, and who will request them. Ask what happens to your approval if the association answers late. Then put the option period, the certificate delivery and the lender's review on one calendar before you sign.