When the financial world began to capsize in 2006 (with the Richmond VA Condo market largely feeling the thud in the summer of 2008), the world of mortgage lending changed dramatically. The pendulum that had swung as far to one side as to allow “NINJA Loans (No Income, No Job, No Assets)” now swung back […]
Originally written February 2013 · updated June 2026.
When the financial world started to capsize in 2006 — and the Richmond condo market felt the thud in the summer of 2008 — mortgage lending changed overnight. The pendulum that had swung far enough to allow “NINJA” loans (No Income, No Job, No Assets) swung back so hard it disallowed nearly everything. Condos, with their extra layer of underwriting, felt it more acutely than single-family homes.
An extra layer of underwriting? Yep. The big difference between lending on a house and lending on a condo isn’t the rate — it’s that the lender has to underwrite the Homeowners Association, not just you and the unit. In a single-family home, there’s no HOA to vet. In a condo, vetting the HOA has a name in lending circles: warrantability.
Miller & Rhoads is a non-warrantable condominium for reasons that aren’t easily fixed — and the initial buyers, who didn’t grasp the risk, have struggled to sell their units ever since.
Here’s what you need to know: if a Richmond condo is warrantable, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and FHA are willing to lend in the building. (That’s the simplified version — the FHA approval packet alone runs 97 pages.) If a project is not warrantable, the agencies won’t lend, and buyers are forced into cash or other debt at higher rates and far worse terms. Financing a non-warrantable condo is more expensive — and that drags market value down, hard.
A handful of factors decide it:
The key thing: some of these are fixed, and some are fixable. A project that’s 50% commercial will probably never be warrantable. A project that’s 49% sold is likely to become warrantable soon. Neither is warrantable today — but one has a far easier path than the other.
You need to understand why a project is (or isn’t) warrantable — and what could change it. You, your agent, and your lender all need a firm handle on this, or the risk simply isn’t being quantified correctly. Not all Richmond condos are created equal, and understanding what makes them different is the whole game.
Rick
