Why a Boca Raton Condo Offer Now Depends on the Building's Books

Since August 3, 2026, almost every conventional mortgage on a Boca Raton condo has needed a full review of the association, not just the unit. Fannie Mae retired its Limited Review option for loan applications dated on or after that day. Freddie Mac retired its Streamlined Review on the same schedule. The main exception is a waiver for projects of 10 or fewer units, and even that comes with conditions.

So the lender is now judging the building's budget, reserves, delinquencies and engineering reports along with your credit. In a city where 73% of condo and townhome sales closed in cash in August 2026, a financed buyer is competing against people who never have to clear that review.

The headline median makes the market look different than it is. Before you set a budget around it, look at how the building's records can affect a financed offer.

What the lender reads before it reads your file

South Florida mortgage executive Melissa Cohn of William Raveis Mortgage told The Real Deal in September 2026 that condo deals were still closing after the change. She described the process as "like you're having your wisdom teeth pulled out." Loans take longer because brokers wait on associations to send the right documents. Once those documents arrive, more buildings miss Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac thresholds, and those buyers move to non-QM loans that usually carry higher rates.

A full review asks for a fairly specific set of records:

1. A current-year budget with at least 10% of assessment income set aside for replacement reserves. Fannie Mae raises that minimum to 15% for loan applications dated on or after January 4, 2027.
2. A reserve study, if the building uses one in place of the budget test. The study has to be current, and the budget has to fund at the study's highest recommended level. Baseline funding no longer qualifies.
3. A delinquency check. Freddie Mac's test allows no more than 15% of units to be 60 or more days behind on regular assessments or on any individual special assessment.
4. Any structural or mechanical inspection report completed in the prior three years. Fannie Mae doesn't require a new inspection just for the loan, but the lender has to review existing reports.
5. The status of critical repairs. A project that failed a required local inspection, or still has critical repairs outstanding, can't be sold to Fannie Mae until those issues are resolved.
6. A Condo Project Manager check. The lender has to confirm that Fannie Mae hasn't marked the project "Unavailable."

Special assessments can't replace the reserve allocation in a full review. If the association discloses that future assessments are likely, the lender has to find out whether they're tied to critical repairs. The questionnaire addendum many lenders send asks about recent inspections and findings, unresolved safety issues, deferred maintenance, reserve studies, current or planned special assessments, and association loans.

FHA financing barely enters the picture. MIAMI REALTORS reported in August 2026 that only 21 of the 2,397 condo buildings in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties were FHA-approved.

The $590K median comes mostly from which units sold

MIAMI REALTORS' August 2026 city table put the Boca Raton condo and townhome median at $590K, up 58% from a year earlier. In the same table, closed sales fell 21%, active inventory fell 20%, months' supply was 7, and the median time to contract was 78 days. Read alone, that sounds like a price surge. The surrounding months and the comparison month tell a different story.

The 2026 monthly closing counts come from subtracting one month's year-to-date total from the next. Two things push the August figure up. The comparison month was weak: August 2025 had already dropped 27% from the year before. And August 2026 had only about 44 closings, so a few higher-priced sales can move the median a lot. The median went from $567K to $520K to $590K in three months, a pattern of a small sample changing composition, not steady appreciation.

The cash share rose along with the median, from 62% in July to 73% in August. That fits a month weighted toward units where financing wasn't part of the deal.

The ZIP rows show two different markets inside one city

The August 2026 ZIP table splits Boca Raton by the kind of sale, and the gaps follow financing more closely than price.

In 33433 and 33486, most buyers used financing, and units went under contract in a month or less at 94% to 95% of original list price. In 33432, where 93% of August sales were cash, sellers took 89% of original list after a median 54 days. Some ZIP medians swung wildly year over year: 33434 was up 260.2% and 33432 was down 38.7%. That's more evidence that monthly figures this size track which units happened to close.

For a financed buyer, the useful takeaway is that loan-dependent offers are already moving fast in the parts of Boca where they make up most of the market. After August 3, that speed depends on whether the building passes review. A building whose budget, reserves and reports clear the lender can trade like 33433. A building that fails review drops out of the conventional-loan market, and whoever buys there either pays cash or takes a non-QM loan. Cohn put it this way: the new rules "will put a premium on the value of the buildings that are compliant."

The Florida rules behind those documents

The lender's review draws on records that Florida's post-Surfside laws require associations to produce. Milestone inspections apply to condo buildings of at least three habitable stories at 30 years from the certificate of occupancy and every 10 years after that. A local enforcement agency can set the first inspection at 25 years based on local conditions, including how close the building is to salt water. Associations that existed on or before July 1, 2022 generally had to complete a Structural Integrity Reserve Study by December 31, 2025. An association whose milestone inspection is due by December 31, 2026 can do the two together, but the study has to be finished by that date.

That means some Boca-area associations are finishing their studies in the same quarter that buyers' lenders are asking for them. Buildings still waiting on reports may be slower to answer a lender, and a slow answer can push a closing date.

The county's public data has gaps. A July 31, 2026 Boca Raton Tribune report found that 17 of Palm Beach County's 39 municipal building officials, or 44%, did not submit the milestone inspection reports required for 2024 and 2025. A county Building Division spokesperson said 10 structures in unincorporated Palm Beach County still hadn't submitted Phase One reports. The list included Sabal Lake West of Boca West, three Pines of Boca Barwood buildings, and three Village Green Boca Raton buildings. All of these are in unincorporated county, not inside Boca Raton city limits. The same report said some special assessments in Palm Beach County had topped $100,000. Because county data is incomplete, the association's own documents are the most reliable record you'll get.

The newest buildings sit outside this problem

At the top of the market, new construction runs on different rules. El-Ad National Properties reported on August 18, 2026 that ALINA Residences had passed $90 million in 2026 sales, including more than $30 million over the summer, with 10 developer residences left. Closings like these can lift a small month's median without any change in what an older unit nearby would sell for. That makes the inspection, reserve and assessment records for each building more useful than the citywide figure when you're pricing an offer.

Questions buyers ask about this

Does the August 3 change mean I need 20% down on a Boca Raton condo? No. It didn't create a universal 20% down payment rule. Fannie Mae's general limits still show up to 97% loan-to-value for a one-unit principal residence, though the type of condo project review can lower that. The bigger risk is a building that fails review, which pushes you to a different kind of loan.

Can I check a building's status myself? Only partly. Fannie Mae's public Condo Status Finder is meant for associations and their authorized representatives, and a "No findings" result doesn't mean the project is approved. Your lender's review is the answer that counts.

What changes again in January 2027? For loan applications dated on or after January 4, 2027, Fannie Mae's minimum reserve allocation goes from 10% to 15% of annual budgeted assessment income. A building that barely passes this fall could fall short next year unless the association raises reserve funding.

If you're thinking about financing a condo in Boca Raton, or selling one to a buyer who will, Deborah Puleo can help you pull the association's budget, reserve study and inspection records before you set a price or write an offer. Schedule a consultation to review a specific building, or request a free home valuation that accounts for how lenders will see it.