Rm

Disclaimer: I'm not a real estate professional. I'm just someone who has been shopping for a home in this area for the last several months and have a pretty good handle on the pricing.

Could you rent for the figure you are mentioning? Probably. Could you buy a free standing home (no condos) for under $300,000? No. Not in Culver City. Not a home that isn't in tear-down condition. Check themls.com or even ziprealty.com. You can only get into a one bedroom condo for the price range you stated. - Sun Jun 29 2008, 11:05

Just an update on the situation... situation is resolved and we are set to close July 1 or 2 (delayed from June 30, but I'm not complaining because at least we are closing). We took a number of steps to get additional information: contacted the HOA management firm, got the contact info for the attorneys for the HOA, got more information from the attorneys and got the HOA's insurance company's contact info. In the end what was most helpful was this: we had the insurance agent for the HOA draft a statement of opinion regarding the suit (legitimacy; if current coverage would be sufficient for the claim; etc.) and this was then submitted to the FHA underwriter. Because the claim would be completely covered by insurance if the outcome is that the HOA is found to be responsible (and apparently the total financial impact was considered low), we were given an allowance for a spot approval. So it looks like we'll have a new home in a few days. After speaking with the seller directly we've come to find she had no idea this was going on and she didn't understand that she should have been disclosing it. I get the impression her agent likely told her it was her responsibility to either know or find these things out for purposes of disclosure, but she still doesn't have a firm grasp of why this had any impact on the sale at all. Very, very nice woman, but very overwhelmed by a difficult sales process. - Sun Jun 29 2008, 10:27

Thanks Julia. While seeking the advice of an attorney may be something for down the road, at present I think I'll consider that a last resort measure and instead focus on something more positive and hopefully fruitful: which is to try to remove roadblocks and make the deal work. I plan to contact the management firm for the HOA and find out if the litigation against the HOA has been settled. If it has been, then discussions with an attorney are unnecessary. I'll let you know how it works out. - Sun Jun 15 2008, 20:02

I went to the link Jim Johnson provided (Thanks!) and found confirmation that the FHA folks won't allow a spot approval if there is any pending litigation against the HOA. OK. So I suppose the next question I have is, if you were in my shoes, who would you be calling to get more info about the litigation? For all I know, it might have been settled since no mention was made of it in the March or April minutes.

Julia, I doubt the seller knew of the litigation in order to disclose it. It was literally two sentences buried in 2 years worth of meeting minutes. That stated, it is something she probably *should* have known about. Knowing up front would have enabled us to be better prepared how to answer FHA (if any answer can be given that will matter). Either that or it might have allowed us to avoid the expense of the appraisal, inspections, etc. and it would have meant the seller could have moved on with a more appropriate buyer who could do conventional instead of FHA. Hindsight being the exact science that it is... - Sun Jun 15 2008, 17:43