14:00 · what I do
Condos, mill conversions and historic districts
Providence has a lot of beautiful housing inside buildings that lenders find complicated. Mill lofts, converted schools, small four-unit condo associations on the East Side. The building has to qualify as well as you do.

Where this one goes wrong
Three things worth knowing before you are under contract, rather than after.
Warrantability is about the building
Owner-occupancy ratio, how much one owner controls, commercial floor area, the reserve line in the budget, litigation. Any one of them can move a building outside conventional guidelines, and none of them are about you.
Non-warrantable is financeable
It just costs more and needs a lender who does it on purpose. Finding out in week one instead of week five is the difference between a plan and a scramble.
Ask what the reserve study says
A small association with a low reserve balance and an old roof is a special assessment waiting to happen. The lender cares. You should care more.
Illustrative throughout. Percentages and thresholds named on this page describe how these programs generally work, not a commitment about your file. Program rules change, lenders add their own overlays, and nothing here is an offer to lend or a rate quote.
Also
Other files I take
- 10
The three-decker, and everything like it
Buying a two-, three- or four-unit and living in one of them is the most Rhode Island way there is to own a house.
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Self-employed, 1099 and seasonal income
If you run something, an underwriter is going to read your tax returns differently from the way your accountant wrote them.
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Reach me directly
Talk about a condos & mills file
Whatever stage you are at. If it is a house you have not seen yet, that is the useful time.
- Fastest(401) 555-0128Call or text. It rings on one phone.
- Writtennadia@botelho-mortgage.exampleReplies weekdays, usually within a couple of hours.
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